Category: Politics

New York: Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai on April 5-6 (local time) met with UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed during his trip to the US to attend the 2024 Vietnam Executive Leadership Programme (VELP) in Boston.

Khai affirmed that Vietnam persistently supports multilateralism and a world order based on international law and the UN Charter, advocates the central role of the UN in the global governance system to respond to common challenges and will contribute to major priorities of the UN in the coming time.

“Vietnam is determined to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and respond to climate change; supports the UN’s initiatives to accelerate the realisation of sustainable development goals,” he affirmed.

He asked the UN to prioritise supporting Vietnam in mobilising finance, transferring technology, and sharing knowledge and practical experience, especially in areas such as improving climate change response and adaptation, effective management of water resources, energy transitio
n, innovation, and digital transformation.

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said the world is entering an important period with many global challenges, requiring countries to uphold multilateralism and promote cooperation to achieve sustainable development goals.

Acknowledging that Vietnam is an important partner of the UN, she expected that the country will coordinate in implementing agendas, including climate change response, energy transition, digital transformation, maintaining food supply chains, promoting education, and ensuring inclusive development, and social justice, among others.

She affirmed that UN organisations are ready to support Vietnam in mobilising resources, thereby helping the country accelerate the implementation of development goals, especially on energy transition and response to climate change.

During his trip to Cornell Tech University under Cornell University, the Vietnamese Deputy PM spoke highly of the school’s cooperation with Vietnamese universities as well as the
quality of Vietnamese students at the university and asked the school to continue to promote cooperation and coordination in joint training programmes with major universities in Vietnam.

At a business discussion held by BCIU with the participation of nearly 20 large US businesses in banking, finance, technology, telecommunications, services, health care, and education, Khai praised the development of Vietnam – US relations in all fields, with trade and investment relations as the pillars and driving forces, He also appreciated US enterprises’ production and business investment activities in Vietnam.

The Deputy PM proposed that US businesses further expand operations in the Southeast Asian country, focusing on areas where Vietnam has demands and US businesses have strengths; continue to propose, comment, and recommend policies on digital transformation, high-quality human resources training, infrastructure development, and information technology.

“The Vietnamese Government commits to always accompanying and
creating favourable conditions for foreign investors in general and US investors in particular to resolve difficulties and obstacles facing them in order to help them implement business and investment projects effectively and sustainably in Vietnam,” he stressed.

Leaders of local enterprises said they look forward to learning more about Vietnam’s development strategy to invest more in Vietnam, thereby contributing to the development of Vietnam – US relations and supporting Vietnam’s growth./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Beijing: Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Vuong Dinh Hue and a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam arrived in Beijing on April 7 afternoon, beginning a six-day official visit to China.

The visit is made at the invitation of Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) of China Zhao Leji.

The Vietnamese top legislator and his entourage were greeted at Beijing Capital International Airport by Vice Chairman of the NPC’s Standing Committee of Wang Dongming, Deputy Secretary General of the NPC Standing Committee Hu Xiaoli, head of the NPC’s Foreign Affairs Committee Wang Wen, and other NPC officials, along with Ambassador Pham Sao Mai and representatives of the Vietnamese Embassy in China, and the Vietnamese community in the country.

This is the first visit to China by Hue in his capacity is NA Chairman, and also the first by a top Vietnamese legislator in five years. It is expected to create a strong motivation and momentum for the development of the relations between Vietnam
and China.

The visit is taking place in the context that the two countries celebrated the 73rd anniversary of their diplomatic relations and 15 years of bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership in 2023.

Vietnam and China are close neighbours sharing many cultural and social similarities. Over the past 74 years, experiencing ups and downs, the Vietnam-China relations have developed steadily with the main flow being friendship and cooperation.

The friendship nurtured by generations of leaders of the two countries has become a shared asset of the two peoples, contributing to maintaining a stable and healthy trend of cooperation, bringing practical benefits to both countries.

Particularly, since Vietnam and China normalised their relations in 1991, they have enjoyed thriving partnership across all fields of politics, economy, culture, and defence and security.

In 2008, the two sides decided to establish a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, the highest partnership framework with
the widest and deepest contents in Vietnam’s relations with other countries. China is the first country to share this partnership with Vietnam.

Over the past 15 years, the two Parties and countries have maintained healthily and stably growing ties with high political trust.

Two-way trade reached 133.09 billion USD in 2020, 165.9 billion USD in 2021, 175 billion USD in 2022, and 171.9 billion USD in 2023, according to Vietnam customs data. In the first two months of 2024, the figure hit 27.3 billion USD.

Regarding investment, as of March 2024, China had invested 27.64 billion USD in Vietnam with 4,418 valid projects, ranking sixth among the 145 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. In 2023 alone, China invested 4.47 billion USD in Vietnam, an increase of 77.5%, ranking 4th among the foreign investors, but leading in the number of new projects. In the first quarter of 2024, China led in the number of the new FDI projects in Vietnam, accounting for 27.8%. /.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Geneva: Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son reaffirmed Vietnam’s priorities when participating in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), including protecting vulnerable groups, promoting gender equality and digital transformation, and ensuring human rights, while delivering his opening statement at the 55th regular session of the council, which took place from February 26 to April 5.

He emphasised that human rights can only be best ensured when peace, stability, and international law are maintained and respected, with states placing people at the centre of all policies and ensuring inclusive and sustainable development.

Son called on countries to support Vietnam’s re-election as a member of the UNHRC for the 2026-2028 term.

The Vietnamese delegation led by FM Son actively joined many sessions, discussing specific rights such as the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment; the right to food; cultural rights; rights of persons with disabilities; and rights of children.

Additionally, Vietn
amese delegates also engaged, exchanged views, and consulted with delegations from other countries, co-sponsoring a number of initiatives in the spirit of dialogue and cooperation. They also fulfilled their duties as a member of the UNHRC by participating in consultations and voting on 32 draft resolutions and two decisions of the council.

Vietnam gave a joint statement on a topic of mutual interest shared by other ASEAN countries, focusing on fisheries exploitation and ensuring the right to food.

Vietnam also spoke on behalf of the core group of the resolution on human rights and climate change – including Vietnam, Bangladesh, and the Philippines – during a dialogue session related to the report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on measures to mitigate the impact of climate change on the enjoyment of the right to food.

Representing the inter-regional group, Vietnam delivered two joint statements with strong endorsement from partner countries, calling for the acceleration of the implementation o
f Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to promote gender equality and protect essential infrastructure for people in armed conflicts.

In these statements, Vietnam emphasised consistency, efforts, and achievements of the Southeast Asian nation in promoting and protecting human rights; reaffirmed Vietnam’s commitment to sustainable development for the benefit of its people; and highlighted the necessity to address inequality and protect vulnerable groups.

Vietnam called for addressing global challenges such as climate change and protecting human rights in armed conflicts, while affirming its commitment to enhancing constructive cooperation with countries, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UNHRC and the council’s mechanisms to promote and protect human rights for all based on respect for the UN Charter, international treaties on human rights, ensuring national sovereignty and principles of objectivity, fairness, constructive dialogue, and cooperation.

The UNHRC completed its 55th se
ssion with a heavy workload and record-long meeting times, in the context that humanity still faces many challenges such as strategic competition; the conflict in Ukraine; the Hamas-Israel conflict; climate change; food, energy, water insecurity; and many other social injustices.

The council reviewed and discussed about 80 reports, consulted and adopted 32 draft resolutions, adopted reports of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on human rights of 14 countries, and approved decisions to postpone some activities of the UNHRC./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Tokyo: The relationship between Vietnam and Japan is currently at the finest development stage, with a historical milestone being the elevation of bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership in November 2023, Deputy Foreign Minister Le Thi Thu Hang told her Japanese counterpart Komura Masahiro during a meeting on April 5 in Tokyo.

The Vietnamese official expressed sincere thanks to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs for coordinating to organise visits and working sessions of high-level delegations of the two countries in recent times, and suggested the two sides continue to closely coordinate to ensure the success of visits by Vietnamese and Japanese high-ranking leaders in 2024.

She called on the Japanese side to continue providing official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam’s development projects.

Deputy FM Hang expressed her gratitude to the Government of Japan for creating favourable conditions for overseas Vietnamese (OVs) living, working, and studying in Japan, calling for fur
ther support for the Vietnamese community in the coming time, including simplifying visa application procedures.

She took the occasion to show her sympathies over the losses of lives and property that the Japanese government and people had to endure after the disastrous earthquake in the early days of 2024 in Ishikawa prefecture and surrounding areas of central Japan. Hang thanked Komura for attending the opening ceremony of the Ikebukuro Festival on April 6 to raise funds to support the victims, considering this a vivid testament to the sincere friendship between the peoples of the two countries.

For his part, Komura agreed to continue promoting cooperation between the two countries in various fields within the framework of the comprehensive strategic partnership, and enhancing people-to-people exchanges, saying that these are important foundations of the friendship between Vietnam and Japan.

He affirmed that he will closely coordinate to successfully organise high-level visits of the two countries’ leade
rs in 2024, and expressed delight at the ODA projects funded by Japan that are contributing to Vietnam’s socio-economic development, stating his personal commitment to continue to bring ODA projects to Vietnam.

The two officials agreed to continue close coordination to address issues related to Vietnamese nationals’ violation of Japanese laws, including enhancing education to ensure that the Vietnamese community in Japan strictly abide by local laws.

On the same day, Deputy FM Hang chaired a seminar with Vietnamese experts and intellectuals in Japan.

As part of her working visit to Japan, Hang also had a meeting with representatives of the Vietnamese Embassy in the country, during which she highly valued efforts by the agency in implementing OV affairs, saying that this has contributed to strengthening the national solidarity bloc and fostering the good friendship between the peoples and the strategic partnership between Vietnam and Japan./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue will lead a high-level Vietnamese delegation to pay an official visit to China from April 7-12 at the invitation of Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) of China Zhao Leji.

On this occasion, Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam Xiong Bo granted the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) an interview on contents related to the visit.

Reporter: NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue will visit China in the coming days. Could you please say about the meanings of the visit to the relationship between the two countries?

Ambassador Xiong Bo: This will be the first official visit that Vietnamese NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue pays to China as the leader of the Vietnamese NA. China attaches great importance to and warmly welcomes this visit.

The visit is an important interaction between high-ranking leaders of the two Parties and two countries with an aim to maintain and strengthen strategic exchanges, with the most important task being to accelerate the imp
lementation of a series of important common perceptions reached between the top leaders of the two Parties, especially the important common understandings reached during the visit to Vietnam by General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and President of China Xi Jinping last year. During the visit, Xi and the Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong reached a series of new important common perceptions, of which the most important is to maintain the high-level exchanges between the two Parties. The upcoming China visit by NA Chairman Hue is also a specific action to maintain the high-level bilateral exchanges.

At the same time, this will be the first visit to China by a high-ranking leader of Vietnam after the two countries announced the building of a Vietnam-China Community with a Shared Future which has a strategic significance, striving for the happiness of the peoples of the two sides as well as for the sake of peace and progress of the humanity.

Besides, this will be the first meeting
between the highest leaders of Vietnamese and Chinese legislatures after the announcement of the Vietnam-China Community with a Shared Future. This has a very important significance in promoting cooperation between the two countries across all fields as well as the increase of experience exchanges between the two sides in Party building and national management, the enhancement of key cooperation in many areas, and the deepening of exchanges between the two legislative bodies.

During this visit, the two sides are scheduled to sign a new cooperation agreement between the two countries’ legislatures and establish their new high-level dialogue mechanism.

In general, this visit is very significant and we expect that it will produce good results.

Reporter: According to you, how have the cooperative relations between the Vietnamese NA and the Chinese NPC contributed to the overall development of the ties between the two countries over the recent past?

Ambassador Xiong Bo: Exchanges between the two countries’ leg
islative bodies are an important component in the relationship between the two Parties and the two countries. In the process of developing bilateral relations, the two countries’ legislative bodies have maintained close exchanges.

In March last year, after the election of the Standing Committee of the 14th NPC of China, Chairman of the committee Zhao Leji had his first online meeting with NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue in the position of Chairman of the NPC of China. This official visit to China by NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue will also be a continuation of the close exchanges between the two countries’ legislatures.

Reporter: How do you assess the opportunities and challenges of the bilateral relations in the coming time?

Ambassador Xiong Bo: First of all, like any bilateral relationship, both opportunities and challenges exist in the China-Vietnam relationship. There cannot be only opportunities without challenges. I think the most outstanding feature of China-Vietnam relations is that opportunities outweigh c
hallenges by far and, through the efforts of both sides, some challenges can be effectively managed and transformed into opportunities of cooperation under certain conditions.

Talking about opportunities, the biggest opportunity or the most basic advantage of China-Vietnam relations is that both sides persistently implement the strategic directions of the top leaders of the two Parties and the political guidance in the relationship between the two Parties over the relationship between the two countries.

Both sides attach importance to maintaining political security, which means ensuring the leadership of the Party and the safety of the socialist regime as their fundamental strategic interests. The two sides attach great importance to enhancing the exchange of experience in Party building, State management and national construction, assisting each other’s major political agendas, and supporting the implementation of medium- and long-term goals.

In addition, the traditional friendship of China and Vietnam, b
uilt and nurtured by generations of veteran leaders of the two Parties, including Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh and Chinese President Mao Zedong, becomes a valuable asset of the two sides, contributing to helping the two countries continuously strengthen cooperation, and a strong spiritual strength for us to jointly accelerate the cause of development.

China and Vietnam are extremely important economic and trade partners of each other. China was Vietnam’s largest trade partner, while Vietnam was the fifth biggest trade partner of China last year. The two sides have close economic, trade, and investment links. They boast a geographical advantage, their mountains and rivers are interconnected, convenient transportation, similar cultures, and close people-to-people exchanges. These factors are all huge opportunities for developing the China-Vietnam relationship. However, cooperation in many fields between the two sides has yet to match the favourable conditions and huge cooperation potential between the two
countries.

During the visit to Vietnam by Party General Secretary Xi Jinping last year, high-ranking leaders of the two Parties and the two countries achieved the goal of “better management and control of differences’. In a high-level visit, reaching such a common perception is extremely rare. This demonstrates the will, determination, and confidence of China and Vietnam in candidly acknowledging and solving differences in a reasonable manner.

Reporter: Trade cooperation and investment has always been a crucial driver to promote relations between the two countries. How do you assess the achievements and progress of the practical cooperation between the two nations?

Ambassador Xiong Bo: Economic cooperation, trade and investment between the two countries always maintains strong momentum of development. Amidst the complex fluctuations and challenges in the world, sustaining this development momentum is by no means simple. Last year, amid a complicated external environment, the economic development of both Ch
ina and Vietnam faced numerous challenges, but they managed to maintain a growth rate of over 5%, which is a noteworthy achievement.

Meanwhile, bilateral trade did not experience a excessive decline. According to China’ statistics, the two-way trade hit 229.8 billion USD, with Vietnam’s exports to China increasing by 4.8%. I want to emphasise that although Vietnam’s agricultural exports to China, especially fruits and vegetables, may not account for a large proportion, they hold a significant importance in bilateral trade and are highly valued by Vietnamese leaders. China also attaches great importance to increasing agricultural imports from Vietnam. Last year, Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable export to China surged by 139.5%, accounting for 65% of Vietnam’s total export turnover of fruits and vegetables. In this, durian exports reached nearly 500,000 tonnes worth 2.1 billion USD. We believe that Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable exports to China will continue to maintain this strong growth momentum this year. The
export situation in the first quarter of this year was very favourable.

China’s investment in Vietnam has also maintained rapid growth. Last year, China poured 4.47 billion USD of investment into Vietnam, up 77.6% year-on-year, making it the fourth biggest foreign investor in Vietnam.

During the visit to Vietnam by Party General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping last year, the two sides achieved important common perceptions regarding strengthening practical cooperation, with top priority given to accelerating transportation infrastructure connectivity.

Also during his Vietnam visit, General Secretary and President Xi Jinping emphasised that China firmly supports Vietnam in speeding up industrialisation and modernisation, and is willing to actively participate in the process of transforming and upgrading Vietnam’s economy, especially in terms of energy transition. Leaders of many large energy and power generation companies of China have come to Vietnam to make market surveys. Accelerating a shift
and upgrade of energy holds significant importance for the sustainable development of Vietnam’s economy, promoting industrialisation, and realising the goal of net-zero emissions. Chinese enterprises can provide strong support to Vietnam in such areas as policy consultation, technical services for energy transition and power development, as well as the development of wind and solar energy, energy storage, hydro energy, and other new energy sources.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Thua Thien-Hue: Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on April 6 attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the Hue Vsico port and another to inaugurate Phu Son waste-to-power plant, and inspected a project to build Nguyen Hoang road and a bridge crossing Huong River in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue.

At the ceremony to launch the construction of Hue Vsico port (Ports No.4 and 5), PM Chinh presented gifts to investors and contractors.

The project is part of the Chan May port cluster which handled 4.5 million tonnes of cargo and 68,700 passengers in 2023.

The cluster is considered the closest and most convenient gateway to the East Sea for the East-West economic corridor, connecting Central Vietnam with Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar, and linking with Asian countries and the world. Besides, it is also located in the centre of Vietnam, between the two largest cities in the central region – Hue and Da Nang.

The project to build Ports No.4 and 5 is invested by Vsico Maritime Joint Stock Company with a total capital
of more than 1.67 trillion VND (66.89 million USD). It covers a total area of 20.4 hectares, with a total length of the two ports of 540m, capable of accommodating cargo ships of up to 70,000 tonnes and container ships of up to 4,000 TEUS.

The project is scheduled to complete in the second quarter of 2025 and put into operations in early 2026. It is designed to receive 5 million tonnes of goods each year. It is expected to handle container ships with 80,000 to 100,000 TEUS per year.

Meanwhile, the Phu Son waste-to-power plant in Phu Son commune of Huong Thuy township has a total area of 11,234 hectares, and an investment of about 74.55 million USD. Its operation duration is 25 years.

The plant is equipped with a mechanical furnace with a capacity of 500 tonnes per day and a 12MW high-pressure steam turbine generator set.

The project was launched in November 2021, with the testing operation period ending in December 2023. It received its operation licence on February 7, 2024, enabling it to switch to comme
rcial operation.

Currently, the plant processes about 220,000 tonnes of household waste and can provide about 93 million kWh of green electricity per year.

The project to construct Nguyen Hoang road and a bridge crossing Huong River, which belong to Belt Road No.3 of Thua Thien-Hue, has a total investment of over 2.28 trillion VND from the central and local budgets.

Construction of the project started in late 2022 and is scheduled to finish in December 2025.

The bridge crossing Huong River is expected to open to traffic in December 2024.

PM Chinh hailed the efforts of relevant parties and contractors, especially workers at the site. He asked them to speed up the construction to ensure its progress, contributing to promoting the night-time economy of the province.

The same day, Chinh visited doctors, officials and patients at the Hue Central Hospital where an organ transplant operation was conducted within 48 hours, a new record of the hospital so far.

He asked the Ministry of Health and Thua Thien-Hue
province to continue paying attention to the hospital’s development, expressing his hope that the hospital will strengthen the application of high technologies for better performance, meeting the demands of patients.

Earlier the same day, PM Chinh attended a groundbreaking ceremony for Hue International Central Hospital No.2 under the Hue Central Hospital./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Can Tho: Secretary of the Party Committee of the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho Nguyen Van Hieu hosted a reception for Ginny Chapman, Charge d’Affaires of the New Zealand Embassy in Vietnam, on April 5.

Hieu highlighted the growing relationship between Vietnam in general and Can Tho in particular with New Zealand over the years, expressing his hope that the two sides will conduct more practical activities to further promote the collaboration between Can Tho and New Zealand basing on each side’s strengths.

Specifically, the two sides can expand cooperation in hi-tech agriculture and green, sustainable industry, as well as human resources training for the agricultural sector.

Can Tho also hopes for more scholarships from New Zealand, as well as stronger cooperation in renewable energy, information technology, green economy, circular economy, and real estate development, said Hieu.

To further promote bilateral cooperation, especially in the fields of agriculture, climate change, education and training, Can Tho
plans to send a working delegation to New Zealand in September 2024, said the city leader.

The official held that the major obstacle facing the two sides currently is the modest number of direct flights from Vietnam to New Zealand, adding that the bottleneck should be removed to promote bilateral investment and tourism cooperation.

For her part, Chapman affirmed that Southeast Asia in general and Vietnam in particular are always a top priority in New Zealand’s foreign affairs. For the Mekong Delta region, New Zealand is and will have more extensive cooperation in the agricultural sector.

Expressing her impression at the 1-million-hectare high quality rice field with low carbon emissions in Thanh An commune, Vinh Thanh district of Can Tho, she asserted that this achievement is resulted from efforts of many parties such as local authorities, organisations and farmers.

The diplomat said that responding to climate change and natural disaster risks is one of the pillars of cooperation between New Zealand and V
ietnam, adding that the two sides are having good cooperation in education and research among institutes and schools. New Zealand hopes to connect more deeply with major research centres in Can Tho and will grant scholarships for state officials in areas of English training programmes and short-term training programmes, which will be rotated depending on the needs and requests from the Vietnamese side.

Statistics from the Can Tho Department of External Relations showed that last year, Can Tho exported 7.91 million USD worth of goods, mostly aquatic products, garments and farm produce, to New Zealand, while importing 7.6 million USD worth of products from the country./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency