August 08, 2009
VNA
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung marked the 42nd anniversary of the founding of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by calling for more collaboration within the bloc.
In a speech broadcast nationally on Friday, the day before the anniversary, Dung said Vietnam valued the cooperative relationship between the 10 ASEAN member nations.
Dung said ASEAN, over the past 42 years, had developed into a dynamic political-economic entity that played an important role in the region and the world.
Vietnam’s involvement in ASEAN remained an important policy for the government, he said.
Dung said Vietnam’s preparations to take over the rotating ASEAN presidency in 2010 were well underway. The government regarded the role as both a great honor and an important responsibility, he said.
On Friday morning in Hanoi, Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem hosted a reception for foreign diplomats in Vietnam to celebrate the ASEAN anniversary.
ASEAN was established on August 8, 1967, in Bangkok by the five original member countries - Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Later, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Brunei Darussalam and Myanmar joined the association to take the number of member-nations to 10.The ASEAN region has a population of about 560 million and a total area of 4.5 million square kilometers.
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