Hanoi, April 8 (Inditop.com) The 16th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) opened here Thursday.
The opening ceremony was held at the National Convention Centre here, Xinhua reported.
Officials of the 10 ASEAN countries will participate in the two-day summit.
It will be the country’s first high-level event after Vietnam took over the bloc’s presidency.
The summit will focus on speeding up the implementation of the tasks adopted by the ASEAN countries, like enhancing connectivity and cooperation among the member-states, to deal with the challenges affecting the region.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has cancelled his visit after growing political unrest in Bangkok. His government declared a state of emergency Wednesday to control the mass anti-government rallies.
In his opening speech, Vietnamese Prime Minister and chairman of the summit, Nguyen Tan Dung said ASEAN has entered a new stage of development, steadily moving towards the realisation of its goals. He called for unity and cooperation among the member-states.
“The overall theme for the year 2010 – ‘Towards the ASEAN Community: from Vision to Action’ – underlines ASEAN’s focus and strong sense of action for this year and beyond,” Dung said.
Important documents related to sustainable development and climate change, among others, will be adopted during the summit.
