Participants to the 18th ASEAN - Canada Dialogue on July 13, 2021 (Photo: VNA)

Ambassador Vu Ho, acting Head of ASEAN SOM Vietnam, underlined that as each other’s important partner, ASEAN and Canada need to coordinate closely, effectively optimize their existing potential and take full advantage of all cooperation opportunities to lift up their relations to a new height. 

He suggested both sides further deepen their partnership in current collaboration areas such as education, training, human resource development, health care and natural disaster management, while expanding their cooperation to new areas such as science-technology application, innovation, digital transformation, renewable energy, climate change response, and green growth, thus making contributions to the comprehensive and sustainable development of their partnership.

The Ambassador reaffirmed ASEAN's consistent stance on the East Sea issue, which heightens international law, trust building, restraint, no militarization, settlement of disputes through peaceful measures, and full and effective implementation of the DOC and building of an effective COC in line with international law and the 1982 UNCLOS, thus turning the East Sea into a sea of peace, cooperation and development.