On April 22, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien received and worked with Mr. Kao Kim Hourn, Secretary General of ASEAN on issues in the ASEAN economic community during his visit and work in Vietnam at the invitation of the Vietnamese Government to attend the ASEAN Future Forum.

Accompanying the Minister to the meeting were representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and leaders of the following units: Multilateral Trade Policy Department, Asia - Africa Market Department, Import - Export Department, Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy, National Competition Commission and the Ministry's Office.

At the meeting, Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn shared about ASEAN's priority areas in the economic pillar to diversify trade and enhance ASEAN's supply chain resilience, including: (i) trade, (ii) investment, (iii) tourism and (iv) connectivity. He also said that with the goal of making ASEAN an attractive investment destination globally, ASEAN is focusing on implementing the upgrade of the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) and free trade agreements between ASEAN and its partners, as well as initiatives on green economy, digital economy, circular economy and blue economy. At the same time, he highly appreciated Vietnam's active participation in implementing the goals of the ASEAN Economic Community and the role of the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade as the agency in charge of coordinating the work in the ASEAN Economic Community of Vietnam. He hoped that Vietnam would closely coordinate with ASEAN countries in completing the priority economic initiatives proposed by Laos - the ASEAN Chair in 2024.

Minister Nguyen Hong Dien highly appreciated the support and close coordination of the ASEAN Secretariat for Vietnam in the work related to ASEAN economic integration, as well as the leadership role of the ASEAN Secretary General in effectively supporting Indonesia and Laos during their ASEAN Chairmanship year. The Minister said that Vietnam welcomed the 14 priority initiatives proposed by Laos and pledged to closely coordinate with Laos and other ASEAN countries to complete the initiatives, ensuring the success of ASEAN 2024, contributing to further strengthening ASEAN cooperation, consolidating the foundation and creating new momentum for further development of ASEAN in the coming decades.

At the meeting, the Minister also shared that, despite the unpredictable developments in the world, Vietnam's economy in the first quarter of 2024 still recorded many bright spots. Specifically, economic growth in the first quarter reached 5.66%, total import and export turnover of goods reached more than 178 billion USD, up 15.5% over the same period last year. However, the Minister also emphasized that the Vietnamese economy in particular and ASEAN in general still face challenges in the coming time, especially protectionism which shows signs of increasing. On that basis, the Minister said that ASEAN countries must strengthen solidarity to overcome these challenges in order to achieve positive and mutually beneficial results in the coming time.

The Minister also acknowledged the proposals of the ASEAN Secretary General on issues in the fields of trade in services, investment, tourism, and connectivity in ASEAN economic cooperation and said that he would forward this information to relevant ministries and agencies to promote discussions within ASEAN.

Regarding extra-bloc economic cooperation, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien shared that in recent times, Vietnam has always actively participated in and closely coordinated with ASEAN members in extra-bloc economic cooperation, especially in the implementation and negotiation of upgrading ASEAN+ FTAs ​​(including the RCEP Agreement), thereby contributing to supporting post-pandemic recovery and development, towards sustainable prosperity of the ASEAN region. The Minister affirmed that Vietnam will continue to closely coordinate with other ASEAN countries as well as the ASEAN Secretariat to further promote relations with partner countries, and said that Vietnam supports ASEAN in promoting relations with new partners with potential to develop relations in the future.

The ASEAN Secretary-General highly appreciated the sharing of Minister Nguyen Hong Dien as well as Vietnam's commitment to continue to actively and responsibly contribute to promoting ASEAN economic integration in the coming time. Mr. Kao Kim Hour also agreed with the Minister of Technical Affairs to continue to closely coordinate to complete the goals of the ASEAN Economic Community.

At the end of the meeting, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien expressed his joy that more and more Cambodian, Lao and Vietnamese officials are working actively at the ASEAN Secretariat under the leadership of the Secretary General.