General Secretary, President: Innovation and adaptation are close requirements for ASEAN

On the afternoon of June 9, at the Presidential Palace, General Secretary and President To Lam received heads of delegations from countries, experts, scholars and representatives of international organizations to Vietnam to attend the ASEAN Future Forum (AFF) 2026.

The General Secretary and President pointed out that the world is entering a period of profound transition. Three major crises in the international order, development model and strategic trust are clearly manifesting in ASEAN itself.

Strategic competition between major countries is more intense and expanding into fundamental areas of the future such as technology, data, supply chains and new governance standards. Artificial intelligence, big data, quantum… are opening up huge development opportunities, but also pose many new risks. Meanwhile, challenges in climate, energy, water resources, population aging, fake news, information manipulation and human security increasingly directly impact social stability and the development capacity of each country.

Traditional development advantages no longer create the same resilience as before. Many familiar ways do not meet new requirements. Population size, resources or capital are still important, but competitive advantage increasingly depends on the ability to innovate, adapt and be ready for new development trends.

“This is a very close requirement for ASEAN. Southeast Asia is the intersection of many major movements. The region has the opportunity to attract more resources, embrace supply chain transformation, digital economic development, green transformation and new technology industries. But opportunities do not turn into advantages on their own. Opportunities only become advantages when the region is capable of grasping them, determined enough to innovate and brave enough to maintain a stable environment for development,” said the General Secretary and President.

Peace, stability and sustainable development can only be cultivated on the basis of solidarity, dialogue, trust building and mutually beneficial cooperation. According to Vietnamese leaders, this is the starting point for initiating the ASEAN Future Forum initiative. Vietnam’s desire is to contribute an open and substantive exchange channel to supplement ASEAN’s common cooperation processes, so that all parties can share and connect ideas and seek new, more practical directions of cooperation for the future of the region.

General Secretary and President To Lam said that the achievements over the past six decades have affirmed the sustainable values ​​of ASEAN, which are solidarity, consensus, central role and inclusive approach.

On that basis, ASEAN needs to continue to innovate its thinking and operating methods, improve adaptive capacity, increase the effectiveness of implementing common commitments, and better meet development requirements in the new period.

Vietnamese leaders believe that “value thinking” needs to be innovated more strongly through more flexible and effective operating methods to better meet new requirements.

ASEAN needs to shift from process thinking to results thinking, to put commitments from documents into practice. The parties need to shift from primarily consultation to more substantive coordination so that cooperation mechanisms can respond more quickly to inter-sectoral and connected issues. In addition, cognitive consensus needs to be transformed into consensus in action, so that a common voice is expressed by specific programs, specific resources and specific results.

“The measure in the coming period is not only how many more documents, mechanisms or action plans ASEAN has, but more importantly, how much ASEAN’s commitments come into practice, what changes it creates for the region, and what benefits it brings to people, businesses and each member economy,” General Secretary and President emphasized.

Full text of speech

Representatives of delegations attending AFF 2026 highly appreciated Vietnam’s initiative, saying that AFF has become a prestigious, open, inclusive and constructive forum, actively contributing to the process of planning long-term development orientations of ASEAN.

Delegates expressed their expectation that AFF will continue to promote its role as a bridge between leaders, policymakers, scholars, businesses, youth and relevant parties, promoting frank and substantive exchange and dialogue on strategic issues of the region.