Beijing(VNA) – Senior officials of ASEAN and China convened the 23rd consultations in the Chinese province of Guizhou on May 19 to review their cooperationacross the fields and outline specific tasks for the near future.

The two sidesagreed that economic-trade-investment link will continue to be the foundationfor bilateral ties, and were committed to effectively carrying out the2016-2020 Action Plan and soon completing procedures to upgrade the ASEAN-ChinaFree Trade Area towards lifting two-way trade to 1 trillion USD and the totalinvestment to 150 billion USD by 2020.

China pledged tosupport ASEAN’s central role and help the grouping carry out the ASEAN CommunityVision 2025 and goals on narrowing development gap, building infrastructure,strengthening connectivity and regional integration, especially via effectivelyutilising joint funds between ASEAN and China and funding from the AsianInfrastructure Investment Bank.

About theASEAN-China strategic partnership, countries underscored the need to strengthenregional connectivity, including defining common priorities in China’s Belt andRoad initiative and the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity. Accordingly, ASEANasked China to continue providing support for micro, small and medium-sizedenterprises (MSMEs), infrastructure building and sustainable development in theregion.

Turning to theEast Sea issue, participants acknowledged the outcomes of the ASEAN-China SOMon DOC on May 18, including a consensus on submitting the draft framework of a Codeof Conduct in the East Sea (COC) to the ASEAN-China Ministerial Meeting inAugust for consideration and approval.

They affirmedthat it is an initial step forward for the next negotiations on thelegally-binding COC for the sake of peace and stability in the region.

Speaking at themeeting, Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung, head of the SeniorOfficials’ Meeting (SOM) ASEAN Vietnam, highlighted the East Asia’s developmentprospect in regional and inter-regional connectivity and the role ofASEAN-China partnership in building the ASEAN Community.

Vietnam willwork with other countries to enhance the effectiveness of regional cooperationmechanisms and frameworks as well as the ASEAN+ 3 (China, the Republic of Koreaand Japan) mechanism, he said.

On regional andglobal issues, the Deputy FM underscored Vietnam’s principles and stance on theEast Sea, the Korean Peninsula, and non-traditional security issues such asterrorism and trans-national and cyber crimes.-VNA