ASEAN Future Forum 2024 enters first session

Vietnamese Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung speaks at the event (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi – The first session of the ASEAN Future Forum 2024 (AFF 2024) in Hanoi on April 23 focused on fast and sustainable growth for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Chairing the event, Ambassador Dino Patti Djalal, Founder of the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia stressed that ASEAN's community building goals are closely linked with the United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025 (ADM 2025).

He said this forum serves as a platform for stakeholders to showcase the bloc's commitment and actions toward a new global consensus on multilateral solutions to current and future challenges.

Vietnamese Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung described digital transformation and green transition as the most critical factors in the coming decade. He called for new digital institutions, new digital infrastructure and a new digital workforce.

Vietnam has many initiatives aimed at providing basic digital skills to its people, such as digital villages, community-based digital groups and open online courses, he said, affirming readiness to share experience with and learn from ASEAN counterparts regarding these initiatives.

The minister made it clear that the future is a digital ASEAN, and there is still a long road ahead.

Discussions focused on potential governance models and initiatives that allow member countries to overcome economic instability and complexity in strategic geography toward sustainable economic growth and prosperity in the post-pandemic era. This included seeking a harmonious balance between the urgent needs for rapid socioeconomic development and the requirements for environmental sustainability and strategic autonomy, taking into account the importance of data-driven decision-making, public-private partnerships, and innovative solutions in renewable energy, circular economy, and sustainable supply chains.

ASEAN strength to be built on with trade reforms Vietnam and ASEAN member states are jointly deploying measures to boost the region’s economy, with a focus laid on upgrading a regional agreement on trade in goods.

ASEAN meeting on intellectual property cooperation opens The 72nd meeting of the ASEAN Working Group on Intellectual Property Cooperation (AWGIPC) is taking place in Vietnam’s central city of Danang on April 22-26.

Regional cooperation advances boosted through ASEAN Future Forum network For the first time in the history of ASEAN, Vietnam will hold the ASEAN Future Forum this week as the country’s largest multilateral event with an aim to further boost intra-bloc in economic, trade, and investment cooperation. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Do Hung Viet talked with VIR’s Nguyen Dat about how important the event is to regional cooperation.