ASEAN-43: Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and leaders attend the ASEAN-Canada Special Summit. (Photo: Anh Son)

On the afternoon of September 6, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended the ASEAN-Canada Special Summit.

The ASEAN-Canada Summit unanimously adopted a Joint Statement officially establishing the ASEAN-Canada Strategic Partnership.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau affirmed that he highly values ​​relations with ASEAN, strongly supports ASEAN's central position, commits to further engagement and presence in the region, upholds international principles, and actively contributes to peace, stability, cooperation and development.

The Canadian Prime Minister affirmed to closely coordinate with ASEAN to implement the newly established Strategic Partnership in a more practical and effective manner, and expressed his desire to participate in ASEAN-led mechanisms such as the East Asia Summit (EAS) and the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+).

In 2022, total two-way trade turnover reached 23.1 billion USD, while total FDI capital from Canada to the ASEAN region reached 3.63 billion USD.

ASEAN welcomed Canada's investment of CAD 24 million to implement the Canadian Trade Gateway initiative in Southeast Asia, and its initial contribution of CAD 1 million to the ASEAN-Canada Trust Fund to support the implementation of specific cooperation programs and projects.

The two sides agreed to coordinate to effectively exploit the potential for cooperation, focusing on the fields of digital transformation, food security, business support, education, human resource training, climate change response, connectivity, and narrowing the development gap...

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stressed that this is the right time to elevate the ASEAN-Canada relationship to a strategic partnership, opening a new era in cooperation, and affirmed that Vietnam will actively coordinate with countries to turn commitments into practical and concrete actions, worthy of the new stature of the relationship.

Emphasizing that economic cooperation for shared prosperity should be the priority focus of the newly established Strategic Partnership, the Prime Minister suggested focusing on promoting trade, investment, connecting businesses, stabilizing supply chains, supporting access to each other's markets, and hoped that Canada would support and create more favorable conditions for goods from Vietnam and ASEAN countries to be exported to the Canadian market.

Towards a greener, cleaner and more sustainable future for future generations, the Prime Minister proposed promoting cooperation in emerging areas such as digital transformation, green transformation, energy transformation, ensuring food security, responding to climate change, etc., and hoped that Canada would support ASEAN countries and the Mekong sub-region in energy transformation, mitigating impacts and adapting to climate change.

ASEAN-Canada Special Summit. (Photo: Anh Son)

The ASEAN-Canada Summit adopted a Declaration on Strengthening Food Security and Nutrition Cooperation in Times of Crisis.

Canada affirms that it considers ASEAN a central force in the region, commits to supporting the building of the Community, contributing responsibly and effectively to dialogue and cooperation, and efforts to build an open, transparent, inclusive regional structure based on international law.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and ASEAN leaders asked Canada to support ASEAN's common stance on the East Sea, fully and effectively implement the DOC and soon reach an effective and substantive Code of Conduct (COC) in accordance with international law and the 1982 UNCLOS, towards building the East Sea into a sea of ​​peace, stability, cooperation and development.

Canada affirms its support for ASEAN's role, efforts and stance, and commits to closely coordinate to promote peace, security, stability and development in the region.

Faced with regional challenges, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked Canada to support increased dialogue, cooperation and trust building, resolving disputes by peaceful means, upholding international law with a sense of responsibility and respecting each other's legitimate interests.