Partners of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should continue to assist the association to build an ASEAN Community and strengthen regional links, narrowing the development gap, as well as supporting the bloc in playing the central role in regional forums.

Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Quang Vinh made the remarks at the 13 th ASEAN Plus Three ( China , Japan and the Republic of Korea ) Foreign Ministers Meeting which took place on July 10 in Phnom Penh .

Vinh praised the practical development of the ASEAN Plus Three relations and the active participation and important contribution of China , Japan , and the RoK in the cooperation process.

In the future, members of ASEAN Plus Three should continue to deepen cooperation in finance and currency, while effectively implementing the agreement on the Chiang Mai Initiative, encouraging the private sector to get involved in the Asian Bond Markets Initiative, he said.

Vinh added that the bloc and its partners should strengthen links in trade, investment, infrastructure development, transport and human resource development.

On the same day, Vinh also participated in the 5 th Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers Meeting and the 2nd Mekong-RoK Foreign Ministers Meeting.

Addressing the Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers Meeting, the Deputy FM suggested that in 2013-2015, the Mekong nations and Japan should focus on cooperating on important issues for subregional development, including hard and soft infrastructure development, particularly the East-West corridor and the Southern corridor.

He also called for close coordination of Mekong sub-regional countries in managing and developing the Mekong River in a sustainable manner, focusing on assessing the impacts of hydropower dams on the main flow.

Speaking at the Mekong-RoK Foreign Ministers Meeting, Vinh said along with strengthening the bilateral cooperation, the Mekong-RoK framework should propose cooperative ideas to make full use of each member nation’s expertise, such as human resource training for the Mekong Subregion Information Superhighway, experience sharing and mutual support in building a green growth model.

He emphasised the absolute necessity for cooperation among nations in the management and exploitation of the waters of the Mekong in the context of increasing pressures from population growth, economic development and climate change.

Along with reviewing and directing the cooperation programmes, the meetings also discuss regional and international issues of common concern, as well as existing challenges such as food security, natural disaster management, the reshuffle of the Security Council, among others.

Many countries also expressed their concerns over the recent developments in the East Sea and its impacts on the regional peace, stability and maritime security and safety, particularly complicated developments which cause harm to the exclusive economic zones and continental shelf of coastal countries, affirming that all nations should respect and comply with International laws and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Deputy FM Vinh reaffirmed that the Vietnamese Government opposes the establishment of China ’s so-called “ Sansha City ” as well as its invitation for bids in nine petroleum lots within Vietnam ’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.

China’s above-mentioned acts seriously violated the coastal countries’ sovereign rights and jurisdictional rights over the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf as stated in the 1982 UNCLOS, and went contrary to the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), threatening the regional peace, stability, and maritime security and safety, he said.

Vinh also reiterated the principles of coastal countries’ sovereign and jurisdictional rights over the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf as stated in the 1982 UNCLOS, and the settling disputes through peaceful methods and without using force in respect of International laws, the 1982 UNCLOS and the DOC.-VNA