Strengthening ASEAN Integration through Law

Deputy Foreign Minister Ho Xuan Son said that ASEAN is always a priority in Vietnam’s foreign policies. Vietnam considered the successful establishment of a strong ASEAN economic community a key factor in ensuring peace, stability and prosperity in the region and raising ASEAN’s voice in the international arena. Vietnam has been striving to become a “proactive and responsible” member in the strong ASEAN community’s building process.

 

Mr Son said, there is still a lot of work to be done in Action Plans to build the Asean community within the next 2 years. New Asean economic community has carried out 80 percent of the scheduled action plans; the number of achieved goals is inconsiderable. Promoting ASEAN economic integration becomes more challenging as ASEAN has to conduct the Asean integration in parallel with the East Asia integration through the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), some members also participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). Meanwhile, the development gap among ASEAN member countries is very large, causing a risk of polarisation between the rich and the poor countries. The political - social turmoil recently in Southeast Asia have impacted the process of building Cultural – Social Community and Political - Security Community, raising new challenges for the process of building the ASEAN Community.

Meanwhile, dramatic changes globally and regionally also create huge challenges to the solidarity and unity in ASEAN community, which affects Asean integration and the building of Asean community. Diplomacy and competition among powerful countries and sovereignty disputes are making the world situation complicated and creating new, complex issues in international relations.

"In the context that the world situation is increasingly changing, especially in areas such as diplomacy and politics, Asean needs to maintain solidarity and cooperate to build a strong Asean community as well as maintain Asean’s central role”, said Mr Son.

In the spirit of proactive and positive international integration, Vietnam obeys the basic principles of the United Nations Charter, international laws and regional code of conduct. Vietnam agrees with strengthening the role of law in Asean integration and the building of Asean community. Vietnam is also a proactive and positive member in the process of negotiating the Asean Charter as well as the process of implementing the Asean Charter. After the Asean charter was signed in 2007, Vietnam was one of the first nations ratifying this Charter. Vietnam has been actively reviewing, supplementing and modifying regulations as well as local procedures and processes to comply with regulations and customs of the Asean community. Not only in the field of economic integration, but also in the field of political and security cooperation, especially maritime security, Vietnam advocates to model the law of the sea based on international laws, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Vietnam and member nations in Asean community are promoting to build a legal code of conduct in the East Sea.

During two sessions on trade and investment, delegates focused on discussing aspects of economic integration such as trade in goods and trade in services and other issues having economic impacts to Asean countries. Mr Son hopes that this seminar will produce a set of practical recommendations on policies in order to accelerate Asean integration through strengthening the law, aligning with ASEAN objectives and action plans, and appropriate to the different levels of development and particular situations of member nations.

Professor Joseph Weiler from the European University Institute said that once the Asean economic community is established by 2015, legal issues need to be consistent with the new context so that the Asean community can bring benefits in social development. Besides, economic policies should be improved to boost economic connectivity among member states.