On October 3, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Vietnam Customs Mai Xuan Thanh chaired a press conference on the hosting of the 13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM 13).​

Fulfilling obligations of Vietnam within the framework of ASEM, the General Department of Vietnam Customs will host the 13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM 13) Customs Directors-General and Commissioners Meeting on October 9-10 in Ha Long city, Quang Ninh province.

At the press conference, Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh said that the hosting of the 13th ASEM of Vietnam Customs is to specify the foreign policy of the Party and State, contributing to enhancing the position and role of Vietnam Customs on the ASEM cooperation forum.

Vietnam Customs actively addresses common concerns, as well as proposes orientations for ASEM customs cooperation, enlisting the support and cooperation from the customs authorities of ASEM countries, especially European partners with advantages of technology, management experience, promoting deep and practical cooperation relations with important European partners.

Hosting the 13th ASEM is important for Vietnam as well as Vietnam Customs to affirm cooperation and compliance with international commitments in Customs, to improve the trust of customs partners as well as trading partners and enhance the prestige of Vietnamese goods.

In addition to the promotion and enhancement of multilateral foreign relations in accordance with Directive No. 25-CT/TW, the hosting of the 13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM 13) Customs Directors-General and Commissioners Meeting has confirmed the initiative in contributing to the orientation of Customs cooperation with Asia-Europe Customs; boosting regional linkages and cooperation in customs in the context of Industry 4.0 together with global challenges on trade fraud, security, terrorism, illegal transportation of dangerous goods and society with the more complicated and sophisticated levels on the large scale, Thanh said.

At the 13th ASEM, as the host country of the conference, Vietnam will actively participate in ASEM action plans. Vietnam Customs desires to promote the implementation of a number of initiatives on Asia-Europe customs connection, contributing to enhancing trade facilitation, supply chain security and environmental protection and public health.

The Ha Long Statement is expected to be given at the meeting showing the commitments of Directors-General of ASEM customs on the goals and priorities of ASEM customs cooperation in the future as well as the ASEM Customs Action Plan for the 2020-2021 period.

Besides the achieved results on priority agreements in the ASEM 2020- 2021 action plan, the General Department of Vietnam Customs’ leader said that Vietnam Customs also will focus on deploying propaganda and logistics to promote Vietnamese culture to regional and international friends.