Vietnamese deputy chief of mission Tran Thanh Huong (R) attends the lecture and discussion

Participants were updated with information on the ASEAN community given by ambassadors and deputy chiefs of mission of Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar and the Philippines to the Czech Republic. Dr. Tomas Petru, an ASEAN researcher, said: “The presentations were every condensed, very packed with interesting data and really comprehensive. So they included broad scope of information and the challenges that ASEAN has to cope with and has to tackle from security issue, human rights issue, from external pressure like from China in the South China Sea and competitiveness. And all those things are interconnected. So in this respect, I highly appreciated all those contributions.”

Vietnamese deputy chief of mission Tran Thanh Huong said that through the discussion the ASEAN image will reach Europeans and the Czechs in particular. She said: “Once again we want to reiterate that ASEAN is a united organization advancing to the future. We hope that the students will be diplomats of people to promote the image of ASEAN to the Czech Republic and the wider Europe.”

Organizers of the Prague event were the Faculty of International Relations (FIR), Center for Asian Studies, and embassies of ASEAN countries in the Czech Republic.