(VOVWORLD) - The 57 ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) concluded on Saturday in Vientiane, Laos, and issued a Joint Communique of the Foreign Ministers.
 (Photo: Foreign Ministry of Vietnam) |
The Joint Communique fully covers the building of the ASEAN Community, ASEAN cooperation on every pillar, ASEAN external relations, and regional and global issues.
The Joint Communique said the Ministers discussed the situation in the East Sea (internationally known as the South China Sea) and reaffirmed the need to pursue peaceful resolutions for disputes in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The Ministers reaffirmed the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, security, stability, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea, acknowledged the benefits of ensuring the East Sea of peace, stability, and prosperity, welcomed the progress of the negotiation on the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC), and looked forward to the early conclusion of an effective and substantive COC in line with international law.
Before that, at the ASEAN-US Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the ASEAN+3 Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the East Asia Foreign Ministers' Summit and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), participating countries agreed to step up coordination in responding to common challenges, promote cooperation for security and prosperity, deepen existing cooperation areas, and identify future cooperative directions.