Hanoi (VNA) – The Central Institute for EconomicManagement (CIEM) and the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia(ERIA) held a roundtable discussion with press agencies on January 15 to shareupdated information about ASEAN and Vietnam’s 2020 ASEAN Chairmanship.

At the event in Hanoi, ERIA Senior CommunicationAdvisor Kavi Chongkittavorn said there are seven important issues during theyear Vietnam holds the ASEAN chairmanship, and the country’s success depends onits settlement of these challenges.

According to him, the issues Vietnam will needto handle include the ASEAN-US summit to be held in the US in the firstquarter, the progress of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership(RCEP), the negotiation on the draft Code of Conduct in the East Sea with sixmeetings planned for 2020, and whether ASEAN will enhance its role in the peaceprocess between the two Koreas and the denuclearisation in the DemocraticPeople’s Republic of Korea.

It will also have to deal with how to representASEAN to accelerate the repatriation of Rohingya refugees, how ASEAN canrealise the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, and how to ensure leaders ofsome important partners like US President Donald Trump and Russian PresidentVladimir Putin will take part in the 15th East Asia Summit in Hanoi inNovember, he said.

CIEM Director Tran Thi Hong Minh said as ASEANChair in 2020, Vietnam has the responsibility of consolidating the bloc’ssolidarity, unanimity and capacity; promoting its development; and fosteringregional connectivity and economic connectivity. At the same time, the countrywill make efforts towards improving ASEAN’s responsiveness to swift changes inthe world situation and emerging challenges.

Chongkittavorn held that Vietnam will hold theASEAN chairmanship in an active and trustworthy manner, solidify the bloc’scentral role, ensure the consistency with the frameworks approved in the yearsThailand and Singapore held the chairmanship, and connect its ASEANchairmanship with its role in the United Nations Security Council at theregional and global levels.

The ERIA is set to coordinate with theVietnamese side to organise a roundtable meeting with editors in Hanoi thisOctober. Over the last 10 years, it has organised similar events in thecountries holding the ASEAN chairmanship to improve local press agencies’knowledge of ASEAN-related issues./.