The Lao Foreign Minister said that Vietnam has held the chairmanship of ASEAN three times and has made important contributions as chairman as well as a member of ASEAN.

Vietnam has shown the capacity not only in leading ASEAN but also in its ability to deal with emerging issues in the world and the region. This is a clear demonstration of Vietnam's outstanding role as the Chair of ASEAN 2020.

That was the comment of Laos Foreign Minister Saleumsay Kommasith about Vietnam's contribution and role after 25 years of joining ASEAN in an interview with the Vietnam News Agency reporter in Vientiane.

Commenting on the significance of Vietnam's joining ASEAN on July 28, 1995, Laos Foreign Minister Saleumsay Kommasith said that politically, Vietnam became a member of ASEAN in 1995 that opened the way for Other countries such as Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia to join the association and made ASEAN from an association of countries with the same political system before to become an association of cooperating countries regardless of differences in the political system.

He said that this is the most important significance that shows ASEAN in the Asia-Pacific region to have increasing cooperation and steadfast in the principle of multilateral cooperation and help multilateral cooperation relations. This approach brings practical benefits to countries in the region especially for Southeast Asian countries.

According to the Lao Foreign Minister, this plays a very important role in opening the way for Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar to become ASEAN members to help ASEAN from having 6 members to becoming an organization with 10 members.

In economic terms, Foreign Minister Saleumsay Kommasith said that due to being one of the countries with a large population, Vietnam's joining ASEAN helped the association to expand the market.

Assessing the role of Vietnam's initiatives in the past years in ASEAN's development as well as ASEAN peace, stability and prosperity, Laos' Foreign Minister stated that Vietnam's joining ASEAN has made important contributions to the fields of politics, economics and cooperation. Especially in 2020, it is very important for Vietnam to hold the chairmanship of ASEAN, which is reflected in the theme of ASEAN in 2020 "Coherence and proactive adaptation."

Minister Saleumxay Kommasith stated clearly, as the Chairman of ASEAN, Vietnam has done its best to promote cohesion, solidarity and unity within the bloc.
This shows that ASEAN is a cohesive bloc, ASEAN is a consensus bloc and is a constructive block that makes countries cooperate and develop relationships and this is also one of the things that Vietnam is leading ASEAN to organize the implementation to develop and strengthen solidarity within the bloc.

Mr. Kommasith emphasized that although 2020 is the first year in the history of ASEAN meetings to be held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, up to now Vietnam is said to hold the chairman role well.

Regarding the cooperation of Vietnam and Laos within the framework of ASEAN over the past 20 years, Laos' Foreign Minister said: “As two countries with special relations and comprehensive cooperation, Laos and Vietnam always cooperate and exchange views with each other. The Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs always have close consultation. Vietnam joined ASEAN 2 years before Laos, so Laos can learn many lessons from Vietnam. Vietnam itself also shares with Laos a lot of experiences about getting ready to join ASEAN in 1997. Currently, we continue to consult each other, the two Ministries have a very close coordination mechanism ... "./.

Source: TapchiLaoViet