ASEAN, U.S. adopt Statement on promoting safe, secure, and trustworthy artificial intelligence

Addressing the event, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken voiced support for ASEAN to play a central role in the vision for a free, open, connected, prosperous, resilient, and secure Indo-Pacific region.

Blinken appreciated the importance of the ASEAN-U.S. comprehensive strategic partnership, reiterated the U.S. will continue cooperation and assistance for ASEAN in epidemic prevention and control, upgrading regional power grid, and combating cybercrime.

Leaders of ASEAN Member States spoke highly of the U.S. strong and long-term commitments to ASEAN and the region, its support for ASEAN centrality as well as its active engagement in constructive dialogue, cooperation and trust-building process in the region.

ASEAN leaders welcome the U.S. to continue support for ASEAN Community building, regional connectivity and integration, narrowing development gap, and coping with challenges, including through the Mekong-U.S. Partnership (MUSP) mechanism.

The MUSP, launched in 2020, is an expansion of the Lower Mekong Initiative and advances its goal to create integrated sub-regional cooperation among Cambodia, Lao PDR, Mynamar, Thailand, and Viet Nam, with support from the U.S.

The leaders to the summit welcomed positive progress in the ASEAN-U.S. relations over the past time.

In 2023, the U.S. was the top foreign investor in ASEAN, with total investment of US$74.3 billion; the second trading partner of ASEAN, with the two-way trade reaching US$395.9 billion.

Initiatives such as the ASEAN-U.S. Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) and the ASEAN-U.S. Expanded Economic Engagement (E3) have created foundation for the two sides to advance cooperation in digital economy, small-and medium-sized enterprise development, and trade facilitation.

Both sides agreed to continue effective and substantive cooperation, with a focus on the fields of trade, investment, science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, healthcare, energy, environment, climate change adaptation, thus contributing to rapid, sustainable and long-term development in the region.

Addressing the summit, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highly valued the importance of the ASEAN-U.S. comprehensive strategic partnership, calling on the U.S. to continue extensive and positive engagement in the region, support the bloc to build the ASEAN Community and promote ASEAN centrality in shaping an open, inclusive, transparent regional architecture, and uphold international law.

Viet Nam welcomed the U.S. to continue support for the Mekong region through the Mekong-U.S. Partnership, said Prime Minister Pham.

He called on ASEAN and the U.S. to take science, technology and innovation as the new pillar of the ASEAN-U.S. relations, thereby opening up new development space and create breakthroughs in the bilateral ties.

Pham urged ASEAN and the U.S. to further strengthen coordination to make greater contributions to peace, security and prosperity in the region. Accordingly, he called on the U.S. to continue its support for ASEAN's common position on the East Sea, and for early conclusion of an effective and substantive Code of Conduct in the East Sea in line with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, contributing to building the East Sea into the sea of peace, stability, cooperation and sustainable development.

Concluding the summit, the leaders adopted the ASEAN-U.S. Leaders' Statement on Promoting Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence, with a view to unlocking the significant potential of Artificial Intelligence, while also mitigating its risks./.