Vietnam's embassy in Doha on Thursday marked the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) Day in the presence of representatives from its member states.

Nguyen Dinh Thao, Vietnam's ambassador and the current chairman of the Asean Committee in Doha (ACD), said "this year the celebration is significant and historic as it marks 52 years since Asean was established."

He said the group has become a family of 10 nations of varied identities, cultures and religious backgrounds, yet embracing the same ideals of shared co-operation for peace and mutual prosperity as one harmonious community.

The ambassador said Asean enjoys excellent relations with Qatar and other GCC countries.

"The ongoing high-level visits between the two regions had demonstrated that distance separating the two regions could be narrowed through developments of investment opportunities. The state visits of His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the Amir of Qatar to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in 2017 and the upcoming scheduled visits to other Asean member countries will further enhance opportunities for the development of our partnership."

He added that on the economic aspects, the Asean-GCC Free Trade Area will become an important part for other areas in the future. Both organisations have agreed to promote greater understanding with a view to forging closer economic co-operation and integration, including exploring the possibility of developing a trade and investment framework agreement.

"As the chairman of ACD for 2019, I believe that the Asean and GCC, especially Qatar, stand to mutually benefit from each other's prosperity. With the shared interests in co-operation, the relations between Asean member countries and Qatar are bound to be further strengthened in the future," said the ambassador.

Nguyen reviewed the various achievements of Asean throughout the past 52 years and its great economic and diplomatic achievements in recent years. He said in 2018, Asean's economy was the seventh largest in the world with a combined GDP exceeding $ 2.9tn, a significant increase from the previous year.

Elaborating Asean vision for the future he said: "The Asean Community Vision 2025 aspires to become more ‘people-oriented’ basing all decisions of the desires of the greater public. They are the backbone that pushed Asean integration to move forward and develop Asean into what it is today. This is crucial to ensure that Southeast Asia remains not only economically vibrant and competitive and politically stable, but also offer a better and enriched quality of life for its people."

ACD representatives who attended the event held at Vietnam's embassy included Mohamed Bahrin Abu Bakar, ambassador of Brunei Darussalam and vice chairman of ACD; Philippines ambassador Alan L Timbayan; Jai Sohan of Singapore; Nathapol Khantahiran of Thailand; Mohamad Shahir Sabarudin, Charge d’Affaires of the Malaysian embassy, and Heru Budiarso, Charge d’Affaires of the Indonesian em,bassy, in addition to senior embassy officials and members of the diplomatic missions of the ACD.