ASEAN Summit to discuss pandemic control, aftermath
The summit and related meetings, slated for November 12-15, “are the most important activity of ASEAN this year, attracting widespread attention both inside and outside the region,” Nguyen Quoc Dung, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and General Secretary of the National ASEAN 2020 Committee, said at a press briefing on Monday.
He said leaders of member countries would discuss four main issues: building the ASEAN community and maintaining intra-bloc cooperation momentum, expanding and deepening relations between ASEAN and partners and promoting the grouping’s centrality to raise its international profile, ensuring Covid-19 prevention and control, and discussing regional and international issues of shared concern.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will chair the summit.
Party chief and president, Nguyen Phu Trong, is expected to attend the opening ceremony and deliver a speech.
Besides the 10 member states, the event will also be attended by Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Nations and the U.S.
Following the summit will be the East Asia Summit, the 12th Mekong-Japan Summit and the 2nd Mekong-South Korea Summit, all chaired by Phuc.
Dung said as the final summit to be hosted by Vietnam in its capacity as ASEAN chair for 2020, it offers an opportunity for the grouping to review intra-bloc cooperation during the year and cooperation with partners, and chart priorities for the future.
Phuong Vu
