(VOVworld)- Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh will lead a Vietnamese delegation to attend the 47^th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and related meetings in Naypitaw, Myanmar. Vietnam’s participation aims to strengthen unity and cooperation within ASEAN and boost ASEAN’s role in ensuring peace and security in the region. Vietnam also aims to boost cooperation with partner countries, and increase its role in the region and the world.

ASEAN Foreign Ministers and delegation heads of 27 countries and organizations will attend the meetings which are important annual events of the bloc. The meetings will review cooperation within ASEAN and between ASEAN and its partner countries, and discuss cooperation orientations, pressing regional and global issues and peace and security in Southeast Asia

For a peaceful and stable environment

Amidst global conflicts, climate change risks, continuing effects of the global economic crisis, and especially recent tensions in the East Sea, all ASEAN member countries are seeking a more peaceful and stable region, so high on the agenda of ASEAN meetings in Myanmar will be cooperative efforts toward peace, security and development in the region. Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Quang Vinh said:“The meetings will focus on furthering consultations on the Code of Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (COC) and the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea. With ASEAN’s efforts to accelerate negotiations and devise clear orientations, we believe China will seriously discuss the COC”.

Since the 46^th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in Brunei a year ago, cooperation within ASEAN and between ASEAN and its partners has rapidly expanded.

ASEAN has also expanded its relations with China by establishing several new mechanisms. The ASEAN-China Action Plan in the 2011-2015 period has been implemented. ASEAN has strengthened agreements with Japan. In 2014, Japan stepped up cooperation with ASEAN in applying satellite technology to disaster management, diplomacy, global health, green growth, climate change response and urbanization management. Japan initiated 33 cooperation projects and granted 500 billion Japanese Yen worth of ODA to help Mekong River countries develop their infrastructure in the next three years. ASEAN and India have enhanced cooperation in land, air, and sea transportation and digital technology. ASEAN and the Republic of Korea are making efforts to increase their two-way trade to 150 billion USD in 2015. ASEAN and the US are developing a strategic dialogue relationship. The US has reiterated its intention of strengthening regional connectivity and has pledged to boost cooperation with ASEAN in politics, security, economics and people-to-people exchanges. The US is helping ASEAN to build an ASEAN Community by 2015. It considers ASEAN the centre of the Asia-Pacific Structure and the focal point of its new rebalancing strategy. US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel highlighted the importance of ASEAN-US cooperation, especially in defence, at the Defense Ministerial Meeting between the US and 10 ASEAN member countries in April: " We also focus on our military relationship and our joint exercise that we continue to strengthen and deepen. The US has been power in Pacific for many years and we intend to continue to be a specific power to cooperate with ASEAN partners and all nations in the Asia Pacific. So we focus on different dimensions of our relationship".

For ASEAN’s bigger role in the international arena

Committed to being proactive and responsible, Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh hopes to contribute to strengthening ASEAN unity and mapping out priorities for ASEAN and the region. Spokesperson for the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry Le Hai Binh said that boosting unity within ASEAN, and maintaining peace and stability for development will be Vietnam’s primary goals at the meetings: “The Vietnamese delegation will make practical contributions to strengthening ASEAN unity and boosting ASEAN’s cooperation with its partners. Vietnam welcomes all initiatives and efforts to maintain peace, stability, security and safety of navigation in the region”.

With its target “One Community, One Destiny”, ASEAN needs to strengthen its three pillars: politics-security, economics, and culture-society. Vietnam is joining with other ASEAN member countries in strengthening connectivity, narrowing development gaps, maintaining ASEAN’s central role and building a strong and united Community by 2015.