ASEAN Economic Ministers and partners agreed on three joint statements on trade: The meetings were attended by the Economic Ministers of ASEAN member states, Timor-Leste, the Economic Ministers of partner countries, and ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn. (Photo: Can Dung)

The meetings gathered Economic Ministers of ASEAN member states, the Minister of Timor-Leste (as observer), Economic Ministers of partner countries, and ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn. The Vietnamese delegation was led by Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hoang Long, with representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant departments of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The Ministers commended the initiative to hold these special consultations, viewing them as timely and necessary platforms to exchange views and assess the challenges and their impact on trade, investment, and economic integration. The discussions also focused on the strategic approaches of ASEAN and its partners in response to the current economic uncertainties.

In addition, the Ministers explored ways to further enhance economic, trade, and investment cooperation between ASEAN and its partners. The goal is to better respond to global challenges, turn risks into opportunities, maintain the stability of regional supply chains, safeguard stakeholders’ interests, and mitigate negative impacts on businesses and the livelihoods of the people.

Speaking at the meetings, Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Long shared Vietnam’s position, supporting ASEAN in adopting a comprehensive, flexible, and pragmatic strategic approach to strengthen intra-regional economic resilience and deepen economic linkages with key partners in addressing ongoing challenges.

Deputy Minister Long also expressed Vietnam’s views regarding the U.S. reciprocal tariff measures. He stressed that Vietnam has responded in a timely, appropriate, and flexible manner, pursuing a policy of persistent and proactive dialogue and cooperation with the United States to resolve difficulties and obstacles. This approach is grounded in the principle of balancing interests and sharing risks, while maintaining a healthy international cooperative environment in line with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and without undermining its commitments under existing economic and trade frameworks with partners. Based on this principle, both sides are currently engaged in negotiations to identify mutually acceptable and beneficial solutions.

The Deputy Minister further emphasized Vietnam’s continued commitment to working closely with ASEAN and its partners in the time ahead to explore opportunities for cooperation in mutually beneficial areas. These include leveraging key trade agreements such as the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA 3.0) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to address emerging challenges and promote a transparent, stable, and equitable international trading environment.

At the conclusion of the meetings, the Ministers adopted three Joint Statements, affirming their shared positions on current developments and trade tensions. The statements reaffirmed their commitment to deepening economic cooperation under existing cooperation mechanisms and free trade agreements (FTAs), exploring priority areas of mutual interest, and upholding a rules-based, non-discriminatory, open, fair, inclusive, equal, and transparent multilateral trading system as the foundation of global commerce.