Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh, on behalf of ASEAN Economic Ministers, held a phone discussion with Secretary-General of ASEAN Lim Jock Hoi on May 6 regarding plans for recovering the regional economy and maintaining intra-bloc supply chains after the COVID-19 pandemic has been brought under control.

The Government recently issued Decree 46/2020/ND-CP stipulating customs procedures, customs inspection and supervision of goods in transit through the ASEAN Customs Transit System to implement Protocol 7 on the Customs transit system.

Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh has recently written an article on ASEAN cooperation in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, in which he described solidarity as the grouping’s strength in the combat.

Kishore Mahbubani, former Singaporean Ambassador to the United Nations, once declared, “When ASEAN [the Association of Southeast Asian Nations] was born on the 8th of August 1967, it was destined to fail.” After all, Southeast Asia was, and continues to be, one of the most diverse regions in the world, hosting four major religions, 800 languages, innumerable ethnicities, and radically diverging political systems and cultures. Despite its unprecedented diversity, ASEAN has brought durable stability and prosperity to 655 million people in Southeast Asia. In an era of growing cultural pessimism, ASEAN is a miraculous counterexample of coexistence.

The 26th ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM)’ Retreat has approved Vietnam’s 12 prioritised initiatives on economic cooperation in ASEAN during the ASEAN Chairman Year 2020.

The ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ABAC) proposed initiatives to promote ASEAN investment through trade facilitation at the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) and ABAC Consultation in Vietnam’s central city of Da Nang on March 10.

“One Vision, One Identity, One Community.” That’s the motto of the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a regional intergovernmental organisation made up of 10 countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The ASEAN Senior Officials' Meeting (ASEAN SOM) was officially opened in the central city of Da Nang on March 4, with a participation of senior leaders from 10 ASEAN countries and the Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN.

Vietnam is strongly committed to completing the role of ASEAN Chair in 2020, promoting the ASEAN community and foreign affairs as well as improving the working way of ASEAN.

The EU has expressed interest in pursuing a number of free trade agreements (FTAs) in the region, not only with Thailand but eventually with Asean as a whole, says EU-Asean Business Council Chairman Donald Kanak.