Prime Minister calls on ASEAN Plus Three to expand cooperation areas

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh made the above suggestion while attending the ASEAN Plus Three (ASEAN+3) Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, on September 6.

Pham recommended ASEAN+3 countries work together to boost economic, trade and investment links along with multilateral connectivity, including effective implementation of ASEAN's free trade agreements with China, Japan and the RoK and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

He underscored the importance of expanding cooperation areas to such areas as digital transformation, digital economy, e-commerce, fintech, artificial intelligence, green finance, and green technology, to create more momentum for inclusive growth towards sustainable development so as to generate practical benefits for people.

The Vietnamese Prime Minister called for stronger ties to guarantee food security in each country and the entire region in any circumstances.

Viet Nam is willing to bolster coordination to promote the Mekong-Lancang, Mekong-Japan, and Mekong-RoK cooperation frameworks, thus effectively contributing to sustainable development in the Mekong sub-region, Pham reiterated.

In 2022, the trade value between ASEAN and the three Northeast Asian partners hit US$1,213 billion, up 10.2 percent against the previous year. The bloc attracted US$54.8 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) from these three partners, accounting for 24.5 percent of the FDI flows into the area. 

Participating leaders agreed to coordinate to fruitfully implement the ASEAN Plus Three Cooperation Work Plan 2023 – 2027, under which the countries will promote cooperation in economy, trade, finance and health, and expand ties to new fields, with a focus on innovation, food security, energy transition, and climate change response, to work towards inclusive and sustainable development.

The summit adopted a statement on the electric vehicle ecosystem development./.