Ambassador Nguyen Hai Bang, representative of Vietnam to ASEAN, took part in a series of events held in Phnom Penh from October 1-4 aimed at promoting ASEAN connectivity.

They included the third meeting of the ASEAN Connectivity Coordinating Committee (ACCC) this year, the dialogue between ACCC and the Lead Implementing Body for Sustainable Infrastructure (LIB-SI), the fifth Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025 (MPAC 2025) Monitoring, Review and Evaluation (MRE) Meeting, the 13rd ASEAN connectivity forum, and a consultation between ACCC and dialogue partners.

The third ACCC meeting discussed how to enhance the efficiency of projects to be implemented within the MPAC 2025 framework; and gave comments on the draft of the fourth MPAC 2025 progress assessment report, the final version of which will be tabled at the 31st ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC) Meeting this November.

ASEAN has been implementing 14 out of the 15 initiatives across MPAC 2025’s five key areas, namely Sustainable Infrastructure, Digital Innovation, Seamless Logistics, Regulatory Excellence, and People Mobility.

In the ACCC – LIB-SI dialogue, the two sides outlined challenges to the execution of projects in sustainable infrastructure and ways to address them.

The fifth MPAC 2025 Monitoring, Review and Evaluation (MRE) Meeting gathered representatives from specialised ASEAN bodies responsible for the implementation of 15 MPAC 2025 initiatives.

The consultation brought together ambassadors of many ASEAN dialogue partners, including the US, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, Germany, the UK, Canada, and New Zealand, who highly regarded ASEAN’s effort to strengthen intra-bloc connectivity as well as its connectivity with other regions.

The 13rd ASEAN connectivity forum saw delegates exchanging information, knowledge and practices in the post-2025 ASEAN connectivity vision; and chalking out measures to step up partnership to implement MPAC 2025 projects and promote sustainable infrastructure and digitalisation for better connectivity.