Vietnam handed over Chairmanship of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN (CPR) to Brunei during its 18th virtual meeting on December 8.

Speaking at the event, Ambassador Tran Duc Binh, head of the Vietnam’s Permanent Mission to ASEAN, thanked permanent missions to ASEAN, ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi and the ASEAN Secretariat for actively helping Vietnam effectively fulfill the CPR’s tasks this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

He believed that Brunei, in its capacity as CPR Chair for 2021, will continue helping the CPR realise ASEAN priorities for 2021, maintain regional cooperation and connectivity, strengthen intra-bloc connectivity and multilateral cooperation, enhance cooperation with partners, thus upholding the bloc’s central role and its stature in the region and the world while improving institutional capacity of the ASEAN Secretariat.

He affirmed that the Vietnamese mission will work closely with its Brunei counterpart to successfully conduct priority programmes during ASEAN Chairmanship Year 2021.

ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi hailed the CPR’s role in negotiating and completing important documents between ASEAN and external partners such as the Action Plan and Declaration of the Special ASEAN Summit on the Coronavirus Disease 2019, reviewing the Master Plan implementing the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the implementation of the ASEAN Charter.

Lim wished that the CPR would continue effectively carrying out the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, the fourth stage of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration, promoting inter-pillar cooperation within the bloc and carrying out comprehensive recovery measures following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the chair of Vietnam this year, the CPR negotiated and completed a number of documents, including 11 joint statements within the framework of ASEAN bilateral cooperation with external partners, cooperation between ASEAN and Japan, the Republic of Korea and China, and the East Asia Summit, and 11 action plans of ASEAN and between the grouping and its partners.