Ambassador Vu Ho, acting head of the ASEAN Senior Officials' (SOM) delegation of Vietnam, joined his counterparts from other regional countries in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia on May 8 to discuss preparations for the 42nd Summit of the bloc.

Participants reviewed the agenda, activities, and a list of documents to be submitted to the ASEAN leaders for consideration on this occasion.

Taking place on May 10-11, the 42nd ASEAN Summit will discuss many issues on the process of building the ASEAN Community, including ASEAN Community's Post-2025 Vision, ASEAN's external relations, as well as international and regional issues of common interest.

At the meeting, heads of the SOM delegations of countries mulled over the implementation of ASEAN's priorities in 2023 as well as updated the cooperation situation between ASEAN and its partners. The Vietnamese Ambassador shared the country’s views on many cooperation contents within ASEAN and between the regional grouping and its partners as well as other issues of mutual concern, along with collaborating with other countries to actively promote ASEAN consensus on other contents.

He also briefed participants on plans to host a number of meetings in Vietnam's Ha Long city from May 15 to 20, including the 27th ASEAN-Korea Dialogue, and the 20th ASEAN-China Senior Officials Meeting on the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and the 39th ASEAN-China Joint Working Group Meeting on the DOC.

The same day, the 16th meeting of the ASEAN Coordinating Council Working Group on Timor Leste's application for ASEAN membership was held. The meeting finalised the draft roadmap for Timor Leste to become a member of ASEAN, which sets out specific criteria the country must meet to become a full member of ASEAN and identifies activities to help it improve its capacity to fulfill a member's obligations. The roadmap will be submitted to the 42nd ASEAN Summit for approval./.