Ambassador Hoang Van Loi speaks at the meeting. (Photo: VNA)
They made the assessment on September 23 during a meeting chaired by Vietnamese Ambassador to South Africa Hoang Van Loi, who is also the Chairman of the ASEAN Pretoria Committee (APC), with the participation of 7 ASEAN member countries’ ambassadors to South Africa, in order to exchange information and discuss APC activities in the coming time.
At the meeting, Ambassador Loi informed the APC members of the 53rd ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM-53) and related meetings’ outcomes, highlighting major achievements in which member countries continued to affirm their determination to maintain a peaceful, secure, neutral and stable Southeast Asia region; consolidate solidarity, resilience and promote the central role of ASEAN; strengthen trust, uphold respect for law; and commit to fully and effectively implementing the goals and cooperation priorities in the spirit of "Cohesive and Responsive".
Praising the role of Vietnam as ASEAN President, Thai Ambassador to South Africa Komate Kamalanavin affirmed that as ASEAN President, Vietnam had done a great job in leading the region to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. He also hailed Vietnam’s support for several ASEAN member countires and dialogue partners in response to the pandemic.
Agreeing with Thai Ambassador Kamalanavin, Malaysian Ambassador Mohamad Nizan B. Mohamad said that he was impressed with Vietnam's initiative and responsibility in coordinating and leading ASEAN to overcome common challenges, especially the COVID-19 pandemic, the current global crisis.
In addition, the ambassadors highly appreciated Ambassador Hoang Van Loi's contributions as APC Chairman, emphasizing that even though he had just taken over this position for a short time, Ambassador Hoang Van Loi effectively coordinated APC activities, including the successful organization of the first face-to-face meeting after months of social distancing due to COVID-19.
Regarding the relationship between ASEAN and South Africa, Ambassador Hoang Van Loi said that the Vietnamese and South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs were actively coordinating for South Africa to sign the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) on the sidelines of the 37th ASEAN Summit in November.
On this occasion, Ambassador Hoang Van Loi also hosted the farewell ceremony for Thai Ambassador to South Africa Komate Kamalanavin, who was going to complete his working term. During the ceremony, Ambassador Loi appreciated the positive contributions of Ambassador Komate in strengthening ASEAN-South Africa relations as well as APC's activities in recent years./.