Welcome speech by Vietnamese Foreign Minister at ASEAN Future Forum

Your Excellency Pham Minh Chinh, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam,

Your Excellency Sonexay Siphandone, Prime Minister of the Lao People's Democratic Republic and Chair of ASEAN for 2024,

Your Excellency Kao Kim Hourn, Secretary-General of ASEAN,

Distinguished participants,

It is my great honor and pleasure to warmly welcome you all to the inaugural ASEAN Future Forum. I would like to express my deepest gratitude for your robust presence and strong support.

We are particularly grateful to H.E. Pham Minh Chinh, Prime Minister of Viet Nam and H.E. Sonexay Siphandone, Prime Minister of Laos for gracing us with your presence. I am also delighted to welcome my good friends and counterparts:

Excellency Retno, Foreign Minister of Indonesia; Excellency Erywan, Second Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brunei and Excellency Dr. Kao, Secretary-General of ASEAN.

As ASEAN approaches its sixth decade of existence and development, we are preparing to enter a new phase of growth upon completing the implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025.

At the same time, the world is undergoing profound changes. Strategic competition among major powers has returned, creating ever greater geopolitical complexities that may gravely undermine the peace and stability of our region and beyond. Meanwhile, rapid socio-economic changes are underway. The world as we know will look very different in the next 10 to 15 years.

It is in this global and regional context that His Excellency, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh announced that Vietnam will host the ASEAN Future Forum at the 43rd ASEAN Summit in Jakarta last September.

This track 1.5 dialogue platform aims to address our shared challenges, such as how to maintain ASEAN's centrality as the strategic environment changes, how to balance the diverse interests of member states, how to ensure harmony between innovation and the preservation of ASEAN's core values. And what ASEAN and it's partners can do to ensure fast and sustainable growth and build on ASEAN community that always put its people at the center.

By bringing together a wide range of stakeholders, including leaders, ministers, senior officials, scholars, youth representatives, and organizations, we seek to foster inclusive exchanges and discussions that ultimately lead to ideas and solutions that best serve the needs of our people.

As such, the ASEAN Future Forum represents a proactive initiative to create an inclusive platform for meaningful dialogue and solutions to the pressing questions that will have a great impact on the future of the people of ASEAN.

Our hope is that the ASEAN Future Forum could serve as a channel to provide ideas and initiatives for the process of finalization and implementation of the ASEAN Vision 2045 and contribute to the region's voice at the upcoming United Nations Summit of the Future this September and beyond. This will be a testament to the harmony between our regional efforts and the broader global agenda, an active contribution of ASEAN in global governance and a confirmation of our commitment to being a responsible and proactive member of the international community.

In the long run, it is our hope and expectation that the ASEAN Future Forum will become an annual Forum of ASEAN. By ASEAN, and for ASEAN, for the interests of the people of ASEAN.

Excellencies,

Distinguished participants,

I believe that this year's theme, "Toward fast and sustainable growth of a people-centered ASEAN Community", reflects our shared concerns and aspirations. For a region that has a population of almost 700 million, all yearning for a better future, sustainable growth must be at the heart of our development strategy. We must strive to create a community that not only drives economic progress but also ensures that the benefits of growth are shared equitably among all our peoples.

As we move forward, let us embrace the diversity of perspectives and ideas that this forum brings together. By fostering open, inclusive, and forward-looking discussions, we can tap into the collective wisdom of governments, scholars, experts, businesses, youth, and the people to generate innovative solutions and initiatives that will guide us towards a brighter tomorrow.

Let us seize this opportunity to shape a future that we can all be proud of - a future where every citizen of ASEAN can enjoy the benefits of peace, prosperity, and progress.

I wish us all a fruitful and inspiring ASEAN Future Forum 2024.

Thank you.