In an interview with the Saigon Giai Phong newspaper on the country's celebration of its 10-year ASEAN membership, the government leader noted with pleasure the developments in the relations between Viet Nam and the association in all areas over the past decade.

He particularly noted progress in trade and investment ties, citing Viet Nam's earnings of around 10 billion USD from trade with other ASEAN member countries in 2004, up from zero in 1994.

Based on the figure, Deputy PM Khoan expressed his belief that the trade ties will continue to witness a surge this year and in the near future.

In this regard, he hailed Singapore as the largest investor in Viet Nam among ASEAN member countries. The country has registered a total investment capital of over 8 billion USD in Viet Nam, half of which has already been disbursed.

Viet Nam has begun more diverse ties with the group and has taken momentum from these ties to broaden its cooperation with other partners and customers outside Southeast Asia, such as China, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United States, said Deputy PM Khoan.

The Government leader was confident that these encouraging cooperative achievements and growing economic and political ties between Viet Nam and ASEAN over the past decade will further boost the country's role in the association in the years to come.

He expressed his desire that each ASEAN member country, including Viet Nam, will become stronger and have its say in the broader international arena in the future.

Asked whether Viet Nam should follow the Indonesian or Thai model in promoting its role in the region, Deputy PM Vu Khoan said "Viet Nam does not have the ambition of becoming another Indonesia or Thailand". With its own position and potential, Viet Nam is quite capable of boosting national development while contributing to the common prosperity of the region".

He also said that each member of the association should develop its own country while contributing to the common development of the group. He pointed to the fact that ASEAN leaders have expressed their desire to cooperate with Viet Nam, as the latter always demonstrates a constructive spirit in regional cooperation.

Regarding measures to enhance ASEAN cooperation, the Vietnamese leader said there are disparities in the regional cooperation level among member countries and that these countries' products are similar.

In order to strengthen regional cooperation, each member country should find its own mechanism in cooperation with other regional counterparts by fully tapping its specific expertise and resources. This regional cooperation model should also involve a third party, either an ASEAN member or a non-ASEAN member, so as to boost tourism, trade and investment cooperation.

On Viet Nam's future cooperation with ASEAN member countries once it is admitted to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Khoan said Viet Nam should adjust its current economic structure toward a more market-driven economy with higher competitiveness. The move, he added, will certainly help bolster Viet Nam-ASEAN economic, commercial and investment cooperation in both quantity and quality.

Deputy PM Vu Khoan expressed his confidence in Viet Nam's improved prestige in the region as well as in the vigorous and qualitative development of its cooperation with the regional grouping, which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand./.