ASEAN Future Forum kick-started

The forum drew the attendance of Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone who is Chairman of ASEAN 2024, ASEAN Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn, ministers and ambassadors of ASEAN member states, ASEAN partners and representatives of international organizations.

The ASEAN Future Forum (AFF), an initiative by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will create a platform to share new initiatives on ASEAN’s future vision.

The forum will include one opening session and two plenary sessions, and other events. The opening session will feature participation and speeches from high-level leaders of Viet Nam, current and incoming ASEAN Chair countries, the ASEAN Secretary-General, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Timor Leste's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao are expected to send pre-corded messages to the forum.

Plenary session one, titled "ASEAN’s Rapid Development for a Sustainable Future", will feature discussions on fostering a future for the ASEAN community. Meanwhile, the plenary session two will focus on ensuring comprehensive security for a people-centered ASEAN Community.

There will also be two parallel working lunch sessions on the themes "Repositioning ASEAN's central role" and "Seizing development opportunities in the Digital Age."

To this end, the forum will examine how to achieve harmony between development and environmental protection, respond to climate change, ensure social security, as well as to place people at the center of all development decisions of each country and the region as a whole.

The session will give businesses a chance to exchange and share advantages, difficulties as well as opportunities in the context of digital transformation, and to connect and build new networks.

It will also help promote regional voice and contribution of ASEAN to the upcoming UN Summit of the Future scheduled to take place in September this year.

The organization of the forum once again represents Viet Nam’s aspiration to contribute more actively to regional cooperation and promote the country’s role in cooperation on a global scale./.