Phnom Penh (FN), Sep. 12 – Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen, in his capacity as the rotating chair of ASEAN 2022, shared five views at the 2022 ASEAN Leadership and Partnership Forum under the theme "Partnerships for a Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN", held on Monday in Phnom Penh.

“To give additional inputs for the discussion in today's forum, please allow me to share some of my own views as follows:

1. Socio-economic development cannot be achieved, unless there is complete stability and peace. In this sense, ASEAN must avoid the fire of war, where there is no winner or loser, but only destruction and loss of people lives. Cambodia, as a country that had experienced many bitter histories because of wars, would like to mist that peaceful settlements of disputes, in a spirit of mutual understanding, and the setting of the well-being of the people as a top priority are win-win policies, leading to true peace and prosperity;

2. In the context where geopolitical competition is heating up, ASEAN must act as a role model and work together to ensure regional peace, stability and prosperity, by strengthening ASEAN Unity and Centrality and strictly adhering to partnerships and multilateral mechanisms to address challenges. Furthermore, ASEAN must also play a central role and serve as a platform for dialogues and cooperation, while reinforcing an open, transparent, inclusive, and rules-based regional architecture,

3. To achieve a sustainable and inclusive economic recovery, we must continue to promote economic integration and turn ASEAN into an attractive and dynamic trade and investment hub, particularly by reducing tax and non-tax barriers and providing mutual supports to accelerate the implementation, and take full advantage of free trade agreements, especially the RCEP Agreement, which is the largest free trade agreement in global history,

4. ASEAN must pay special attention and promote economic security to meet all basic and essential needs of our citizens, and ensure inclusive and equitable accesses to domestic and regional economic growth, by developing strategic infrastructure, strengthening entrepreneurship, providing supports to micro, small and medium enterprises, strengthening education, health and social protection, reducing development gaps, creating jobs and reducing income inequality, and ensuring food security; and

5. ASEAN must look forward and work together to take full advantage of the potentials and opportunities arising from global trends such as circular economy, green economy, and especially digitalization which will be the key driving force in promoting connectivity in all areas, including socio-economy, investment, trade and politics, as well as jointly responding to challenges such as climate change in a timely manner, in line with our theme today”.
=FRESH NEWS