The ambassadors of Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia in Mexico have lauded the role that Vietnam took as the Chair of the ASEAN Committee (ACMC) in Mexico in the first half of this year in strengthening the partnership between the grouping and the host country.

At a ceremony to hand over the chairmanship to Indonesia on July 18, Vietnamese Counsellor in Mexico Tran Thanh Tam summarised the committee’s operations in the first six months of 2019, including the organisation of seminars and meetings with local authorities to strengthen friendship and solidarity among the ASEAN countries as well as the grouping and Mexico.

Receiving the new position, Indonesian Ambassador Cosmas Cheppy Tri Prakoso Wartono pledged to work hard to strengthen activities of the committee, thus enhancing the relationship between the association and Mexico in all fields, especially in trade, investment, tourism and culture.

Other ambassadors from ASEAN countries affirmed the significance of fostering intra-bloc solidarity as well as all-round partnership with Mexico, contributing to enhancing the image and prestige of ASEAN.

According to Mexico’s Ministry of Economy, trade between Mexico and Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam enjoyed annual growth of over 10 percent to 9.242 billion USD in the first four months of 2019.