Vietnam after 27 years of joining ASEAN (July 28, 1995-July 28, 2022)

DNHN - 27 years ago, July 28, 1995 marked the milestone when Vietnam joined ASEAN and officially became the 7th member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

During the 27-year journey, Vietnam's accession to ASEAN has rapidly integrated, deeply participated in all areas of ASEAN cooperation and made positive contributions to maintaining intra-ASEAN solidarity, increasing strengthen cooperation between member countries as well as between ASEAN and external partners, significantly contributing to the development and success of ASEAN.

On August 8, 1967, ASEAN was established, which is the first milestone of the process of formation and development of a regional organization that is considered to be very effective and developing strongly.

According to Mr. Trieu Minh Long, Director of the International Cooperation Department (Ministry of Information and Communications), over the past 55 years, ASEAN has achieved many great results, becoming an organization playing a central role in the region. ASEAN's central role is based on the achievements of cooperation that the Association has achieved in the process of formation and development, from cooperation with external partners, as well as from the successes of the frameworks, regional cooperation mechanism initiated and led by the Association”.

On July 28, 1995, at the 28th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting (AMM-28), in Brunei, Vietnam officially joined ASEAN and became the 7th member of this organization.

Pham Quynh Mai, Deputy Director of the Multilateral Trade Policy Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that over the past 27 years, Vietnam has actively and proactively participated in ASEAN economic integration and jointly other ASEAN member countries built an important foundation for the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community.

“So far, the ASEAN Free Trade Area is one of the cooperation frameworks where Vietnam has the strongest commitment to opening up the commodity market,” affirmed Ms. Vietnam's import tax elimination for ASEAN countries reached 98% (other ASEAN countries eliminated about 98.7% import tax for Vietnam's exports).

Externally, via ASEAN, Vietnam has conditions to promote economic, trade and investment cooperation with other important partners through the signing and implementation of free trade agreements (FTA) between ASEAN and these partners.

Out of 15 FTAs ​​that Vietnam has signed, there are 8 agreements under the framework of ASEAN cooperation. In particular, ASEAN and five partner countries including China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in 2020, when Vietnam holds the ASEAN Chairmanship - creating a free trade area with the largest scale in the world in terms of population (about 2.2 billion consumers) with great potential for development of value chains in the region, helping to promote further promote the economic development of ASEAN countries, including Vietnam.

Assessing the benefits from joining ASEAN, Ms. Pham Quynh Mai shared that joining ASEAN facilitates Vietnamese goods and services to access the markets of Southeast Asian countries; approaching markets of ASEAN's partner countries with over 1 billion people such as China and India, and “difficult” developed markets such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea, increasing the export turnover of Vietnam to these countries many times higher than the time of signing the respective FTAs.

“Vietnam's export turnover to China increased from more than 3 billion USD to nearly 56 billion USD; exports to Korea increased from 664 million USD to 21.9 billion USD; exports to Japan increased from 8 5 billion USD to 20.1 billion USD in 2021, etc.” - Ms. Pham Quynh Mai cited.

The accession to ASEAN also has a positive impact on Vietnam's export of goods such as promoting the diversification of the structure of export products, from traditional commodities such as crude oil and rice to processed and high technology such as iron and steel; electronics, computers and components; machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts; phones and components.

In addition, enhancing the attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI) as well as expanding investment opportunities to other ASEAN countries, especially in fields such as telecommunications, banking, etc.; create motivation for enterprises to improve their competitiveness, access scientific and technological support sources, learn advanced management experiences; contribute to improving the qualifications and capacity of the staff and training high-quality human resources.

On the other hand, contributing to creating positive changes in the construction and improvement of domestic policy institutions, laws and procedures, creating an increasingly transparent business and investment environment, thereby helping to improve the quality of life. Vietnam's ranking in the World Bank's (WB) annual report on the Doing Business.

According to VNA, after two years of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Southeast Asian economies are showing signs of recovery. According to a study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the region's economic output growth in 2021 has increased to 2.9% and is expected to reach 4.9% in 2022.

The rapidly changing global economic landscape is bringing new opportunities and challenges to the region, in which digital technology and sustainable development are emerging as new drivers for ASEAN's future growth.

Notably, issues related to geopolitical tensions, disruptions in global economic and trade activities, and climate change highlight the region's urgent need to intensify community-building efforts. It is therefore important that ASEAN reaffirms its commitment and determination to work together to ensure that the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) remains relevant, competitive, inclusive, sustainable, cohesive and adaptive. response in the post-COVID-19 world.

ASEAN member states that have enacted recycling legislation, such as Vietnam, can also share their best legislative experiences with their neighbors. Vietnam's Law on Environmental Protection 2020 has institutionalized the concept of a circular economy. It is important to provide a legal basis for an extended manufacturer's liability enforcement, forcing manufacturers and importers of goods to collect for post-use recycling.

PV t/h