ASEAN is a prestigious regional organization and an important partner of many countries around the world. While global multilateral institutions have constantly been facing difficulties and challenges, ASEAN has succeeded in maintaining its stable operations and its’ central role in the regional cooperative structure. A variety of its’ partners has expressed the desire to deepen and promote their partnership with ASEAN, among which Canada just announced its new Indo-Pacific Strategy focusing on the partnership expansion in the Indo-Pacific region and strengthening Canada’s ties with ASEAN. Canada’s vision is backed by its’ commitment to establish a bilateral Canada – ASEAN Strategic Partnership, its’ desire to join the regional platforms hosted by ASEAN, such as the East Asia Summit (EAS) and ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting (ADMM) Plus. However, Canada’s efforts do not necessarily match with ASEAN’s habit of approaching strategic partnership and it might take a longer way for both parties to meet each others’ ends. This paper looks into the progress of this bilateral cooperation towards their Strategic Partnership along with the challenges keeping Canada, in spite of its multiple efforts, not yet becoming a participant in a selection of ASEAN’s central events. In addition, this paper also aims to explain the origins of such challenges by considering both sides’ national interests as the vital element. By the end of this paper, the authors expect to forecast the path of ASEAN-Canada relations in upcoming period of time and provide suggestions on the role of Vietnam in strengthening Canada's cooperation with ASEAN.

Authors:
Trang Pham, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vietnam
Hai Nguyen, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vietnam

About the Presenter(s)
Pham, Thuy Trang is an Officer in the Americas Department, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam since 2007. Trang is now a postgraduate-to-be with
a Doctor of International Relations at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam.

See this presentation on the full schedule – On Demand Schedule

Bookmark