Seoul (VNA) - ASEAN KoreaCentre (AKC) Secretary General Lee Hyuk has appreciated the role of Vietnam inASEAN and as ASEAN Chair this year as well as the prospects of ASEAN-ROK tiesin the future in an interview given to the Vietnam News Agency on thethreshold  of the 37th Summitand related summits scheduled for  November12-15.

He said this year Vietnam is not only assuming the rotating Chairmanship ofASEAN but is also celebrating the 25th anniversary of its accession to the bloc.

“Over the quarter-century, Vietnam has not only become an integral part ofASEAN, but today is one of the stronger growth engines of the ASEAN EconomicCommunity contributing to the regional prosperity,” he noted.

Even before the outbreak of the coronavirus, Vietnam’schairmanship was faced with many challenges—the slowdown in global economy, therising tension between US and China in the region, and the growing frequency ofnatural disasters due to climate change, just to mention a few. And whenCOVID19 broke out, Vietnam had to face even greater hardship as it carried outits ASEAN Chairmanship.

However, under theme “cohesive and responsive” —which was notonly very timely but also relevant to the current pandemic situation—Vietnamdemonstrated excellent leadership, not only in successfully containing thespread of the virus at home, but also in uniting the ASEAN Member States (AMS)together for joint action, Lee affirmed.

He went on tosay that through numerous online video conferences at both the summit and ministeriallevels, Vietnam was able to bring the region together to share information onCOVID19; to support affected areas with medical equipment; to facilitatemovement of essential peoples; and to commit to open and free trade and minimisethe effects of supply chain disruptions. 

As a matter of fact, on November 15, on the occasion of theASEAN-related summits, the leaders of ten member states and and five partnercountries including the Republic of Korea, Japan, China, Australia and NewZealand will sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), whichis expected to significantly boost trade in the region in the wake of COVID-19,he added. 

Regarding the prospects of the ASEAN-RoK tiesin the future, Lee said after celebrating the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-RoKties last year during the Commemorative Summit in 2019, the two sides wereready to embark on a year of heightened partnership this year.

Unfortunately, the sudden outbreak and subsequent global spread of COVID-19 putmay collaborative projects and exchanges on hold.

However, ASEAN and the RoK took the opportunity to strengthenties in new areas — in addition to shoring up joint efforts in responding tothe pandemic, the two sides set up a regular channel of communication among thehealth agencies for increased coordination. The RoK contributed 1 million USDto ASEAN’s COVID-19 Response Fund and provided humanitarian support to affectedcommunities.

In particular, Vietnam and the RoK, both having shown earlysuccess in containing the spread of the virus, took leadership in creatingpositive momentum for ASEAN-RoK cooperation. Over the past months, Vietnam hashelped 5,000 Korean businessmen to enter Vietnam and the two countries arecurrently working on a fast-track arrangement to further facilitate themovement of essential people. The country would be the third such ASEAN memberstates to do so following Indonesia and Singapore.

Indeed, based on pastexperiences of having turned crises into opportunities (such as during the 1997Asian Financial Crisis), ASEAN and the RoK is expected to emerge stronger fromthe current difficulties to forge a robust partnership in the future, he said.

As important trade andinvestment partners (ASEAN is the RoK’s second largest, and the latter is theformer’s fifth largest trading partner), the two sides will be indispensible toeach other in the post-COVID19 economic recovery efforts.

According to Lee, the strategic importance of ASEAN to the RoK and the RoK toASEAN will also grow as the region seeks to strengthen multilateralism andASEAN centrality in the midst of rising tensions between the US and China.

It is against this backdrop that the RoK Government islaunching the “New Southern Policy Plus”, on the occasion of the ASEAN-RoKSummit that will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the ASEAN-RoK StrategicPartnership.

The upgraded policy is expected to further elevate, expand and deepen mutuallybeneficial partnership in reflection of the changing geo-political and economiclandscape of the region, he concluded./.