HANOI, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam will do its best as the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to enable the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in 2020, its deputy foreign minister said on Monday.
Nguyen Quoc Dung, Vietnamese deputy minister of foreign affairs and secretary general of the country's National ASEAN 2020 Committee, made the remarks at an international press conference on Vietnam's ASEAN Chairmanship 2020 on Monday.
"We strongly support the agreement and will do our best so that RCEP can be signed in 2020," said Dung, adding that once RCEP is implemented, it will bring many benefits to the region and to the trend of global trade liberalization, contributing to the elimination of protectionism ideas.
Initiated in 2012 by ASEAN, RCEP is a proposed regional free trade agreement between the 10 member states of ASEAN and its six partners -- China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and India.
Vietnam will assume ASEAN's annual rotating chair on Jan. 1, 2020. Choosing "Cohesive and Responsive" as the theme for the chairmanship year, Vietnam will focus on fostering the bloc's sustainable cohesiveness through consolidating solidarity and unity, increasing economic connectivity, further intensifying the values and identities of the ASEAN Community, and promoting its active and effective responsiveness to opportunities and challenges in the face of swift and complex developments in the region and the world, Dung said.
Throughout the year, Vietnam will host some 300 activities, particularly the 36th ASEAN Summit in April and the 37th ASEAN Summit and related meetings in November 2020.
In the immediate future, Vietnam is focused on preparing for the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat scheduled in January 2020 in central Khanh Hoa province, starting a series of events during the year, Dung said.
