Thai PM outlines three priorities for ASEAN’s future

Jakarta (VNA) – Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has called on ASEAN to focus on three key priorities – strengthening regionalism, enhancing resilience, and safeguarding the bloc’s long-term role and standing – amid growing strategic competition and an increasingly fragmented world. Delivering a policy speech at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta on August 4 during his official visit to Indonesia, Anutin said Thailand, as one of ASEAN’s five founding members, will continue contributing to the development of the regional grouping. Regarding the first priority, the Thai PM said ASEAN unity and centrality are more important than ever. While consensus and non-interference remain fundamental principles, they should be applied flexibly and pragmatically to preserve unity and enhance the bloc’s capacity for collective action. To strengthen resilience, ASEAN should deepen integration, build reliable supply chains, bolster energy security, advance digital connectivity and enhance technological capacity.