President hosts ASEAN ambassadors

On behalf of the ASEAN diplomats, Indonesian Ambassador Denny Abdi conveyed congratulations and greetings from leaders of Indonesia and ASEAN member states to President Thuong.

He affirmed that over the past 28 years, Vietnam has played an important role in strengthening the solidarity and central role of ASEAN, as well as in building the ASEAN Community Vision beyond 2025. Vietnam's GDP growth of 8.02% last year will generate momentum for regional economic development.

Committing to actively supporting and contributing effectively to further enhancing the relationship between Vietnam and ASEAN countries, he believed that under the sound leadership of the President, their friendship and cooperation will increasingly grow, making important contributions to maintaining peace, security and stability in the region.

Hailing the theme of ASEAN this year "ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth", which reflects the role of the bloc in the region and the shared aspirations of ASEAN for development in peace, prosperity and harmony, Thuong affirmed that Vietnam will accompany ASEAN 2023 Chair, and all member countries in achieving these goals.

ASEAN holds an extremely important position, and is an integral part of Vietnam's foreign policy. Unity, flexibility, harmony and inclusiveness are the "golden keys" to opening the door to a new regional space with ASEAN at the centre, toward realising the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and beyond, with the community spirit permeating among people of all strata, he said.

Vietnam always attaches importance to ties with Southeast Asian neighbouring countries, he added.

According to him, Vietnam and Southeast Asian nations have been working closely together in all important fields such as national defence-security, economy, trade, investment, education-training, and people-to-people exchange, and expanding into new areas in the industry 4.0 era, such as innovation, digital transformation, digital connectivity, circular economy, green economy, clean energy, among others.

The host wished that ambassadors would serve as important bridges, contributing more to promoting friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and ASEAN member states.

On the occasion of the traditional New Year of Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and the Ramadan in Muslim countries, Thuong extended his warmest wishes to the leaders and people of these countries.