Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam and China co-chaired the 18th East Asia Forum which was held via video conference on December 10 under thetheme of “Strengthening the ASEAN Plus Three Cooperation for Economic andFinancial Resilience in the face of Emerging Challenges”.

Attending the event were high-ranking officials, prestigiousscholars and experts, and representatives of businesses from 10 ASEAN MemberStates and China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, and guests from regional andinternational organisations.

In his opening remarks, Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen QuocDung, who head of the ASEAN SOM of Vietnam, said that the ASEAN Plus Threecooperation, established in 1997 amidst the regional financial crisis, hasadvantage of actively responding to challenges, notably the SARS 2003, theeconomic-financial crisis 2008, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

He expressed his hope that the forum will set forthorientations and measures to effectively carry out the Declaration of ASEANPlus Three leaders on strengthening cooperation for economic and financialresilience in the face of emerging challenges, which was initiated by Vietnamand adopted at the recent 23rd ASEAN Plus Three Summit.

China’s Deputy Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui affirmed theimportance of collaboration in maintaining open, safe and stable supply chains;boosting regional integration; and responding to emerging non-traditionalsecurity challenges and diseases.

He proposed exploiting potential of emerging markets,stepping up exchanges on financial policies to build a regional financialsafety network, make the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)agreement soon become effective, and speed up the application of 5G technology,digital transformation and e-commerce development.

At the forum, senior officials and experts made manyrecommendations, such as setting up a regional financial cooperation centre tosupport ASEAN countries, supporting enterprises, especially those with smalland medium sizes, through financial assistance packages, investing indeveloping high-quality infrastructure, and promoting the use of domesticcurrencies in trade, investment and financial transactions among ASEAN PlusThree countries.

They also shared experience in expanding collaboration infinancial technology, stepping up digital payments and e-commerce, increase theuse of renewable energies to increase the sustainability of economies.

Many stressed the need to continue narrowing development gap,boosting sustainable development in sub-regions to speed up the region’scomprehensive and sustainable economic development efforts.

To deal with economic and financial shocks from outsidepromptly and effectively, they agreed to improve the macro-economic monitoringsystem and early warning capacity, intensify economic and financial policycoordination, and consolidate such regional mechanisms as the Chiang MaiInitiative Multilateralisation (CMIM), the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic ResearchOffice (AMRO) and the Asian Bond Markets Initiative (ABMI)./.