Prime Minister Prayut attended the Opening Ceremony of the 37th ASEAN Summits, where the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam and President of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam delivered his welcoming remarks and Prime Minister of Viet Nam delivered his opening remarks, highlighting ASEAN’s unity and solidarity throughout 2020, under Vietnam Chairmanship with the theme “Cohesive and Responsive”, amidst the challenges of COVID-19 pandemic.

On 12 November 2020, at 08.30 hrs., H.E. General Prayut Chan-o-Cha, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, attended the Opening Ceremony of the 37th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits, to be chaired by H.E. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, via videoconference. Other ASEAN Leaders, Leaders of Dialogue Partners, the Secretary-General of ASEAN, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Director-General of the World Helath Organization (WHO), the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), ASEAN Ministers and Ministers of Dialogue Partners, as well as ASEAN Senior Officials were also present.

In the Opening Ceremony, Prime Minister of Viet Nam highlighted a number of Viet Nam’s achievements as the Chair of ASEAN this year, under the theme “Cohesive and Responsive”, amidst challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and reiterated the importance of ASEAN’s unity in combatting challenges and for socio-economic recovery from COVID-19.

In his statement, Prime Minister of Viet Nam called for ASEAN solidarity and strength to address the challenges efficiently, especially in handling and recovering from COVID-19 pandemic and enhancing partnership with external partners in order to promote peace, stability and prosperity in the region while maintaining ASEAN Centrality.

Prime Minister of Viet Nam also highlighted ASEAN’s concrete achievements in community building this year, including the Mid-Term Review (MTR) of the three ASEAN Community Blueprints 2025, the development of an ASEAN Community post-2025 vision, a review of the implementation of the ASEAN Charter, the promotion of ASEAN identity and awareness, and an effort to align the implementation of sub-regional cooperation frameworks with ASEAN strategies.

---------