Jakarta (VNA) - Despite challenges inthe region, under Vietnam’s chairmanship, ASEAN has reached greater heights andfurther shown its unity and resilience to the world with the spirit of“cohesive and responsive ASEAN”, Myanmar Ambassador to ASEAN Aung Myo Myint hassaid.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency(VNA), Aung Myo Myint congratulated Vietnam on its leadership and managementfor successfully conducting the 37th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits amidstthe COVID-19 pandemic.

ASEAN has to tackle the challenges of shiftingregional geo-political and geo-economic dynamic as well as critical health andsocio-economic issues. However, under Vietnam’s chairmanship, the grouping istackling to address these challenges in order to ensure that the ASEANCommunity building efforts remain on-track and in progress.

Vietnam has made progress in promoting itspriorities, he said, lauding the country’s intensive efforts to advance thewomen, peace and security (WPS) agenda across the ASEAN region and around theworld.
As the ASEAN Chair 2020, Vietnam takes the lead incoordinating regional response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ambassador wenton.

The bloc’s multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral andcomprehensive approach to effectively respond to COVID-19 and future publichealth emergencies is coordinated by the ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC), hesaid, highlighting the adoption of the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework (ACRF),the Implementation Plan and the establishment of COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund, andthe ASEAN Regional Reserve of Medical Supplies (RRMS).

According to the ambassador, the conclusion andsigning of the RCEP agreement is the most significant performance by ASEANduring this year amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

The signing will enhance business confidence,strengthen the regional economic architecture, and maintain the stability of theregional and global industry and supply chains, while demonstrating the region’ssupport for an open, inclusive and rules-based multilateral trading system.

Another significant outcome achieved by ASEAN thisyear is undertaking the mid-term reviews of three ASEAN Community Blue Printsand promoting ASEAN image and visibility.
Vietnam’s effort to keep ASEAN together during thedifficult time is immeasurable, he stressed.

Geopolitical competition, economic resilience andtransnational communicable diseases will still remain as challenges for ASEAN.Therefore, the theme of “Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN” selected by Vietnam isof great relevance to the need of today.

“ASEAN centrality would be more meaningful to ourregion if we could play a bigger role as a stabilising force, particularly byutilising the EAS, ARF and ADMM plus mechanisms, promoting greater trust andconfidence among the participants,” the ambassador said.

ASEAN needs to continue fostering closer cooperationwith dialogue partners to strengthen its engagement with the external partiesand reach out to new potential partners who can contribute positively to ASEANunity and solidarity as well as and ASEAN Community building efforts, hesuggested.

“Myanmar believes that the post-2025 vision shouldbe guided by the ASEAN Charter, the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation and thecore principles of ASEAN that the founding fathers set out 53 years ago,” theambassador said.

Greater integration within and with its partnersshould not undermine the core principles and norms enshrined in key ASAEANdocuments, he said, adding that these rules and norms will serve as an enablerfor ASEAN to meaningfully exercise its centrality in the evolving regionalarchitecture, raise its collective voice in addressing international issues andenhance its role in multilateral forums./.