A national consultation seminar was held in Hanoi on August 29 to review the implementation of the third stage of the Working Plan for Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) for 2016 – 2020 in Vietnam.

At the event  

Co-organised by the Foreign Ministry and the ASEAN Secretariat, the event aimed to look into projects within the framework of the working plan, thus proposing measures to further improve the efficiency of the working plan at present and in the future. 

 Speaking at the event, Assistant to the Foreign Minister Nguyen Van Thao affirmed the strategic importance of narrowing development gap to the process of ASEAN Community building. 

 He reiterated the IAI’s goal of promoting mutual support within the bloc, enhancing integration and narrowing development gap via development cooperation and technical support programmes for Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. 

 Thao thanked ASEAN 6 countries and ASEAN’s partners for providing support for Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, and lauded active and important contributions by Vietnamese ministries and agencies to IAI projects. 

 The event afforded Vietnamese ministries and agencies a chance to offer proper recommendations to effectively carry out IAI projects in the near future, towards building a politically-connected, economically-linked, people-centred ASEAN Community with equal development.