Vietnam to take part in ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat in Malaysia

Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh will take part in the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia from Jan. 27 to 28, said Pham Thu Hang, vice spokesperson of Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.

Speaking at a regular press briefing, Hang said the retreat is the first meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN) at the ministerial level in 2015, which aims to define orientations for activities of the bloc in 2015 under Malaysia's chairmanship.

In addition to implementing decisions adopted during the ASEAN Summit and related meetings in November 2014, including development of a post-2015 vision and ASEAN's organizational and mechanism reforms, the retreat is expected to carry out discussions on the priorities of ASEAN for 2015, external affairs of the group, as well as its central role in an evolving regional architecture, said Hang.

Founded in 1967, ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.