Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung and UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs Ed Miliband co-chaired the ASEAN–UK Post-Ministerial Conference on July 22 as part of the 59th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM-59) and related meetings in Manila, the Philippines.
Addressing the conference, Trung stressed that ASEAN–UK relations have been built over many decades. The establishment of the Dialogue Partnership in 2021 did not mark a beginning, but rather a transition to a new phase characterised by a stronger strategic vision and a higher level of institutionalisation.
Entering this new phase, he proposed that ASEAN–UK cooperation shift its focus from growth to enhancing resilience, self-reliance and innovation on the basis of increasingly strengthened mutual trust.
The Vietnamese official called for stronger strategic coordination within ASEAN mechanisms as well as other regional and global frameworks, particularly in 2027 when Vietnam will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, Singapore will chair ASEAN, and the UK will hold the G20 presidency.
He welcomed the UK’s support for the ASEAN Power Grid, the just energy transition, green finance and the development of next-generation clean energy technologies, which contribute to enhancing regional energy security.
As the first ASEAN country to establish a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with the UK and as the current country coordinator for ASEAN–UK relations, Trung affirmed, Vietnam will exert all-out efforts to join other countries in bring ASEAN–UK cooperation into a new stage that is more substantive, effective and beneficial to their people.
For his part, the UK Foreign Secretary said ASEAN holds a central role in his country’s strategy towards the region, stressing the UK supports ASEAN's centrality and considers the bloc as a model of multilateral cooperation.
He also expressed the hope to further develop the UK's ties with the bloc both intensively and extensively.
At the conference, the ministers welcomed the substantial progress achieved over five years of the ASEAN–UK partnership. The two sides have largely completed the ASEAN–UK Plan of Action for 2022–2026, with an implementation rate of 98.9%.
The UK is currently ASEAN’s 12th largest trading partner and sixth largest source of foreign direct investment. In 2025, bilateral trade was estimated at 45.01 billion USD while the UK's FDI into ASEAN reached 9.2 billion USD.
The UK has actively participated in ASEAN cooperation mechanisms and frameworks across the political-security, economic, and socio-cultural pillars and has consistently advocated ASEAN's centrality.
ASEAN ministers particularly appreciated that the UK Foreign Secretary chose ASEAN meetings as his first overseas mission just 48 hours after taking office, viewing the move as a strong demonstration of the commitment of the UK, and Miliband himself, to ASEAN and the wider region.
Building on the obtained achievements and in response to a rapidly changing strategic environment, the ministers agreed to steer the development of ASEAN–UK relations in a more strategic and practical direction that delivers tangible benefits to their people.
Economic and trade cooperation will remain the main pillar while cooperation will be expanded in digital transformation, climate action, energy security, human resources development, maritime security, cybersecurity and the promotion of an open, transparent, inclusive and rules-based regional architecture with ASEAN at its centre.
The ministers adopted the ASEAN–UK Plan of Action for 2027–2031 and a Joint Ministerial Statement on Cooperation on the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP), thereby establishing a strategic framework for future ASEAN–UK cooperation in the time ahead.
Earlier the same day, Trung held a meeting with the UK Foreign Secretary during which he congratulated the UK on the formation of its new government and Miliband on his appointment. He expressed satisfaction with the positive development of the Vietnam–UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
He affirmed that Vietnam will continue to play an active role as the country coordinator of the ASEAN–UK relations and work with the UK to further strengthen ASEAN–UK cooperation, particularly in science and technology, business connectivity and people-to-people exchanges.
Miliband highly valued the progress of bilateral relations and Vietnam’s proactive role as coordinator. He underscored the importance of ASEAN and Southeast Asia in the UK’s foreign policy and voiced the wish to coordinate closely with Vietnam to further deepen both bilateral ties and ASEAN–UK cooperation in the coming period./.
