Hanoi (VNA) - The steering committee for ASEAN dissemination at theMinistry of Information and Communications (MIC) held a conference in Hanoi onAugust 4 on the dissemination of information about the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the occasion of the bloc’s55th founding anniversary (August 8).

In his opening remarks, Trieu Minh Long, Director of the MIC’sDepartment of International Cooperation, said that ASEAN was established onAugust 8, 1967, marking the first milestone in the process of formation and developmentof a regional organisation considered to be very effective and growingstrongly.

The conference was chaired by the MIC, in collaboration withthe ASEAN Secretariat and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Industry andTrade, Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, to further improve understanding on,update the situation, development orientations, and opportunities from theASEAN integration process to provide necessary information for people, organisationsand businesses, he said.

Pham Quynh Mai, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Industryand Trade’s Multilateral Trade Policy Department, stated that Vietnam joined ASEANon July 28, 1995. Over the past 27 years, Vietnam has proactively and activelyparticipated in ASEAN economic integration and, together with other membercountries, built an important foundation for the formation of the ASEANEconomic Community. To date, the ASEAN Free Trade Area is one of thecooperation frameworks that Vietnam has the strongest commitment to opening upthe goods market.

According to Mai, Vietnam's cooperation orientation with the region in thecoming time is to continue promoting ASEAN economic cooperation, especially inrestructuring economies, adapting to the general post-pandemic recovery steps,and continue to work with other ASEAN countries to support an open,rules-based, inclusive and mutually beneficial multilateral trading system,especially in trade and investment in the region.

In this process, Vietnam will actively support andparticipate responsibly in joint initiatives to facilitate trade, services andinvestment, strengthen the development of ASEAN capital markets, and consolidateregional supply chains and production network.

Looking back at the country's 27-year international economicintegration process, it can be affirmed that joining ASEAN was a wise, timely andsound decision of the Party and State, bringing many benefits to the countryand people, Mai stressed.

Therefore, it is necessary to maintain effectivecoordination and cooperation among ministries, sectors, localities and thebusiness community to successfully implement the orientation of cooperationwith ASEAN in the coming time, she added.

At the conference, delegates heard the ASEANCommunication Strategy and implementation experience from the ASEAN Secretariatdelivered by Tan Ghee Tiong, Head of the Culture and Information Division underthe Sustainable Development Directorate of ASEAN Socio-Cultural CommunityDepartment at the ASEAN Secretariat./.