Vietnam would like to cooperate with regional partners in efforts to cope with the current financial crisis and the global downturn, the Vietnamese prime minister said on Friday.

"As an ASEAN member, Vietnam is ready to cooperate with other countries within ASEAN and ASEAN plus three mechanisms in a bid to tackle the international financial crisis and mitigate the impacts of the global downturn," said Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in an exclusive interview with Xinhua, who is at Thailand's central seaside resort of Pattaya for the 14th ASEAN summit and related summits.

Asked about the measures taken by Vietnam in its combat against crisis, Dung said Vietnam has unveiled a series of coordinated actions, focusing on enhancing output, promoting exports and stimulating investment and consumption. All these efforts are meant to improve social well-being and reinvigorate the country's economic growth, the prime minister said.

Apart from flexible fiscal and monetary measures, the Vietnamese government also put in place measures designed to ensure a sustainable development, including perfecting laws and regulations, intensifying anti-corruption efforts, improving infrastructure construction and strengthening environmental protection and conservation, the prime minister said.

All these efforts have brought about positive results, Dung said. For example, Vietnam has put inflation under control and at the same time managed to register a 6.2-percent growth in 2008, he said. This good momentum has continued in the first quarter of 2009, when Vietnam's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 3.1 percent and the number is projected to reach 5 for the whole year, the prime minister added.

On the China-ASEAN ties, the prime minister said "I'm glad to see the robust development of ASEAN-China relationship in recent years and I believe this relationship will improve further in the future, contributing to the regional peace, stability and development and serving as a role model for ASEAN's cooperation with external partners."

In the past years, the economic and trade cooperation of the two sides witnessed rapid development. ASEAN is now China's fourth largest trading partner and China's trade volume with ASEAN countries accounts for 11.2 percent of China's total foreign trade. In the meantime, China is the 4th largest trading partner of ASEAN.

Dung also welcomed China's 4 trillion-RMB stimulus plan dedicated to boosting domestic demand and economic growth. It was Vietman's belief that the Chinese government and people have the resolve and capability to bring China's economy back to a fast- developing track as soon as possible, he added.

Asked about the prospects of ASEAN's community-building process, the prime minister said his country is making concerted efforts with other ASEAN members to promote regional cooperation and integration with a view to realizing the ASEAN community in 2015 on schedule.

The prime minister also called on the international community, the developed countries in particular, to extend a helping hand to under-developed and developing countries in their efforts when coping with the crisis and the economic downturn.