Vietnam has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies and the shining stars of ASEAN, and dual diplomatic responsibility in 2020 offers rare opportunity for Vietnam, according to an Eurasia Review analysis.

This year, Vietnam faces a dense diplomatic schedule, with the chairmanship coinciding with Vietnam’s non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council, Dr. Frederick Kliem from S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at Singapore-based Nanyang Technological University wrote in an analysis published on the Eurasia Review on February 6.

“This poses logistical challenges for the country,” he said, “but this dual diplomatic responsibility also offers a rare opportunity for Hanoi to present a well-coordinated foreign policy and achieve maximum impact.”

“In particular, Hanoi should leverage the ASEAN agenda at the global stage at the UN, something previous ASEAN chairs have done with remarkable success,” he added.

He noted that Vietnam may attempt to set new directions for ASEAN-led mechanisms, including the East Asia Summit (EAS) and the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) and there will be efforts to advance cross-sectoral and cross-pillar approaches to better coordinate and tackle emerging security challenges within these forums.

Within the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) pillar, Vietnam will seek to promote specific intra-ASEAN partnerships for sustainable development in order to boost intra-ASEAN trade and investment, and ASEAN sustainability measures, he said.

Under the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC), Hanoi will try to raise ASEAN awareness by seeking to enhance social security for the most vulnerable ASEAN citizens, to promote cooperation mechanisms to combat fake news, and raise the idea to place the ASEAN symbol on passports.

Given Vietnam’s increasingly active role on the global stage and within ASEAN, as well as the challenging regional environment and difficult issues, there will be much to observe in ASEAN in 2020 and Vietnam is uniquely well placed to move ASEAN forward, he reiterated.