Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Ha Noi, July 23 (VNA) -- The 34th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM-34) was opened in Ha Noi this morning, July 23.

The two-day AMM-34, is being attended by delegations from all ten ASEAN member countries, the ASEAN Secretariat, East Timor and Papua New Guinea.

The ten delegations of ASEAN countries include the Brunei delegation led by Foreign Minister Prince Mohamed Bolkiah; the Cambodian delegation led by Senior Minister, and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Namhong; the Indonesian delegation led by Director-General of Political Affairs of the Department of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirajuda; the Lao delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavad; the Malaysian delegation led by Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar; the Myanmar delegation led by Foreign Minister U Win Aung; the Philippine delegation led by Vice President and Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Department of Foreign Affairs Teofisto T. Guingona, Jr.; the Singaporean delegation led by Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar; the Thai delegation led by Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai; and the host Vietnamese delegation led by Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien.

The ASEAN Secretariat delegation is led by Secretary-General Rodolfo C. Severino, Jr.; the East Timor delegation is led by Sergio Vieira de Melo, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General and Chief Executive of UN Transitional Administration in East Timor; and Papua New Guinea's delegation is led by Tarcisius Eri, Special Envoy of Papua New Guinea's Government and Papua New Guinea's Ambassador to Indonesia.

FM Nien delivered the opening speech, highlighting the targets and contents of the AMM-34. He said:

"I would like to extend the warm welcome from the Government and people of Viet Nam to all ASEAN delegations to Ha Noi for this AMM-34. I would also like to extend our warm welcome to the Special Envoy of the Foreign Minister of Papua New Guinea, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General and Chief Executive of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor, and the Heads of the Diplomatic Missions in Ha Noi at this opening ceremony.

"We are gathering here this week to review the progress we have made during the past year, to sort out the problems we have encountered, and to work out concrete measures and solutions to advance ASEAN cooperation in various areas, and especially to promote greater ASEAN integration, in line with the objectives set forth in the ASEAN Vision 2020 and the Ha Noi Plan of Action. Building on the tradition and spirit of ASEAN unity and cooperation, and with renewed efforts, I am confident that we will achieve what we have set to achieve, that is, an ASEAN of unity, stability, greater cooperation and integration, and dynamic and equitable development.

"On this occasion, we will also be meeting with our colleagues from ASEAN's Dialogue Partner countries and member countries of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). At those meetings, we will reaffirm our commitment to remaining outward-looking and our desire to further expand ASEAN's cooperation with them. And we look forward to in-depth exchanges of views with them on matters of mutual concern and on ways and means we can benefit each other through cooperation.

"As we are looking forward to fruitful and constructive meetings in the next few days, we believe that in his key note address, His Excellency Prime Minister Phan Van Khai will give us further valuable guidance in our discussions and deliberations. And we all hope that our meeting will be successful and the outcome of our meeting will constitute a firm platform upon which our Association and each member country will enter the 21st century with greater confidence."

In his key note speech, Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai said the AMM-34 and other conferences to be held in Ha Noi this week were important political events for ASEAN in the interest of peace and development. He pointed out four urgent and fundamental issues to accelerate the implementation of the objectives set forth in the Ha Noi Plan of Action and the ASEAN Vision 2020, namely stable, unity, integration and outward-looking ASEAN.--VNA