Thai  Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha (L) hands the ASEAN chairmanship hammer to Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the ceremony in Bangkok on Nov 4, 2019. (Photo: VNA)

Following the closing ceremony, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha of Thailand, the host country of ASEAN in 2019, handed the chairmanship hammer to Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

In his speech, PM Phuc noted:  "Vietnam has chosen "Cohesive and Responsive" as the theme for the ASEAN Year 2020 as these two elements are greatly complementary to each other. A cohesive and developed community needs to increase its responsiveness to external factors and, in return, responsiveness can only be attained if ASEAN is a strongly cohesive bloc."

He said that Vietnam looks forwards to the active support and assistance from other ASEAN members and partners to realise the spirit of the theme of the ASEAN Year 2020.  2020 will mark five years since the formation of the ASEAN Community. It’s time to focus on fostering the bloc’s sustainable cohesiveness through consolidating solidarity and unity in a rapidly changing world, the PM said.

Following his speech, the logo for the ASEAN Year 2020 was debuted, and a short video introducing the chairmanship of Vietnam was screened at the ceremony.