(VOVworld) – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Wednesday afternoon arrived in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei, to attend the 22^nd ASEAN Summit, the first summit hosted by Brunei as Chair of ASEAN in 2013. Themed “Our people, Our Future Together”, the summit will discuss measures to accelerate the building of a united and resilient ASEAN community, and promote the grouping’s central role in addressing regional issues and the region’s evolving structure. Prime Minister Dung is scheduled to have a working diner with ASEAN leaders in the evening and attend a retreat meeting on Thursday. Mr. Dung and other ASEAN leaders will examine ways to boost internal strength and cooperation between ASEAN and its dialogue partners. They will look at recent tensions in the East Sea and seek ways to create a peaceful and stable environment for cooperation and development in the region.  

Later in the evening, the Vietnamese Prime Minister met with the  Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, who is President of the 22^nd ASEAN summit.

On the sidelines of the on-going ASEAN summit on Wednesday evening,  Prime Minister Dung met with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Both leaders spoke highly of the two countries’ cooperative mechanism, including the committees on bilateral  cooperation and the joint committees on economic, scientific and technological cooperation. They agreed to elevate bilateral ties to strategic partnership, which will be officially announced during President Truong Tan Sang’s visit to Indonesia this year. Regarding regional and international issues, Mr. Dung praised the role of Indonesia as an active member of ASEAN and its efforts in accelerating the issuance of the 6-point declaration on the East Sea issues. He expressed his hope that Indonesia together with Vietnam and other ASEAN countries support the ASEAN President in boosting the bloc’s targets, including building an ASEAN community by 2015 and upholding ASEAN’s central role in the region, contributing to peace, security and development in the region and the East Sea. Both leaders shared the view that peace, stability and maritime safety are common concerns and interests of ASEAN and involved countries. They urged for the united voice of ASEAN to achieve these targets, stressing the agreed basic principles, including international laws and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. They called for full and effective implementation of ASEAN’s 6-point principles on the East Sea, the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), the ASEAN – China Statement marking the 10^th anniversary of the DOC and efforts toward the Code of Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (COC).