Delegates attending the 4th ASEAN-UK Senior Officials Meeting (SOM). Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

As the coordinator of dialogue relations, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Do Hung Viet, who is also head of the ASEAN Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) delegation of Vietnam, said ASEAN will closely cooperate with the UK in developing documents that will guide cooperation between the two sides.

He called on the UK side to support initiatives proposed by Vietnam in its role as Chair of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) Task Force to implement the IAI Work Plan in 2021-2025 and the new 2026-2030 work plan.

Owen Jenkins, Director General for Indo-Pacific, Middle East and North Africa at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) of the UK, affirmed the UK's strong commitment and priority to ASEAN and the Indo-Pacific region, stressing that the UK supports ASEAN's central role and stands ready to assist the group in implementing the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 and its strategies on politics-security, economics, culture-society, and connectivity.

He proposed expanding the areas, mechanisms, levels of cooperation to allow the UK engage more deeply in regional cooperation, positioning itself as a consistent and reliable partner of the bloc.

On Thursday afternoon, Vietnam and the UK co-chaired the ASEAN-UK Connectivity Dialogue, which focused on two main areas of financial services and creative economy. The dialogue was the final event in a series of ASEAN activities hosted by Vietnam from Tuesday to Thursday in Da Nang.