The event was co-chaired by Ambassador and head of the Vietnamese Permanent Mission to ASEAN Tran Duc Binh and RoK Ambassador to ASEAN Lim Sung-nam.

Participants at the meeting.

Participants highly valued achievements in cooperation activities within the ASEAN+3 framework across the fields of politics-security, economy, and culture-society.

The meeting heard that 257 cooperation programmes have been implementing within the framework of the ASEAN 3 Action Plan in the 2018-2022 period.

Participants agreed to coordinate to carry out the ASEAN 3 leaders’ Statement on Connecting the Connectivities Initiative which was approved at the ASEAN 3 Summit in last November in Bangkok, Thailand.

They affirmed the importance of the ASEAN+3 cooperation mechanism for peace, security and development in East Asia.

Representatives from the ASEAN+3 countries -China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (RoK)- pledged to give priority to resources for building the ASEAN Community and narrowing the development gap through implementing the Initiative for ASEAN Integration and the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025 (MPAC 2025).

They promised to accelerate the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement and develop micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs); and enhance cooperation in finance, sustainable development, education and public health, climate change adaption, settlement of maritime waste, and food and energy security.

The meeting also shared assessments of the COVID-19 epidemic.

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ASEAN Chairman issues statement on responding to COVID-19

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, as Chairman of ASEAN in 2020, issued a statement on ASEAN’s joint response to the outbreak of the acute respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), in the face of complicated development of the epidemic.

ASEAN culture, cuisine popularised in Ukraine

The embassies of Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia in Ukraine on February 13 held a programme to introduce ASEAN culture and cuisine, as part of the popularisation efforts in Vietnam’s ASEAN Chair Year 2020 in the country.

10th ASEAN Para Games postponed for second time

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Year of ASEAN Identity 2020 launched

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Source: VNA