Day: July 15, 2023

A group tour organized early this month under the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation framework has brought our media practitioners from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and China to major development projects in Guangdong, China.

The trip was part of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Media Summit hosted by People’s Daily.

The ASEAN and Chinese journalists were amazed by all of these infrastructure projects with some boasting world-class details.

We began with visiting Lingdingyang Bridge on July 2. The bridge is an important control project of Shenzhen-Zhongshen link in Zhuhai City, China.

Lingdingyang bridge has a total length of 2,826 m. Its main span is 1,666m, which is the world’s largest span offshore suspension bridge. The bridge has a deck height of 91 m, making it the world’s tallest mid-sea bridge. The main tower adopts a portal structure, with the height of 270 m, making it the world’s tallest mid-sea bridge tower. The anchor weighs 1.7 million tons and is the world’s largest anchor in the ocean.

We then stopped at Shenzhen-Zhongshan bridge. This bridge connects Shenzhen city and Zhongshan city in Guangdong province. It is a world-class cluster project of bridges, “islands tunnels and underwater connectivity”, and a core transportation hub in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay area. The 7-billion-USD bridge is expected to be put into public use in 2024.

Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay area includes two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao, as well as nine Pearl River Delta cities in Guangdong province, namely Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshen, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing.

It will be built into a dynamic world-class city cluster, an international scientific and technological innovation center with global influence, an important support for the construction of “Belt and Road”, a demonstration area for in-depth cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macao, and high quality life circle suitable for living, working and traveling.

Our last stop of the trip was China Communications Construction Group (CCCC). The corporate is mainly engaged in the investment, design, construction and operation of transportation infrastructure such as highway, waterway, railway and airport.

CCCC has a strong ability of independent innovation and created a number of “world top” projects. It not only has the whole industry chain integration service ability in the field of Transport up-gradation and city regeneration, but also has unique advantages in internationalization, river lake sea governance and so on.

With over 30 years of experience in the Lancang-Mekong market, CCCC has been fully involved in the construction of the economic development belt in the area especially after the introduction of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism. CCCC has implemented over 13 billion USD of high-quality infrastructure projects with Chinese technology and Chinese solutions, creating a series of landmark projects served as “Bridge liking hearts”, “Road to wealth”, “Port for development”, “City of happiness”, and “Clean power”. These projects have brought a better living experience to the local people.

Source: Lao News Agency

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted 30 resolutions at the end of its 53rd regular session in Geneva on July 14, including one on climate change and human rights drafted and proposed by Vietnam, Bangladesh, and the Philippines that highlights the adverse impact of the natural phenomenon on livelihoods and human rights, emphasising the need for international cooperation to address these impacts.

The session took place from June 19 – July 14 in both in-person and online formats, featuring five thematic panel discussions, deliberations, and dialogues on 37 special procedures and human rights mechanisms of the UN, consultations on draft resolutions; and an urgent debate on the alarming rise in premeditated and public acts of religious hatred as manifested by recurrent desecration of the Holy Quran in some European and other countries.

The UNHRC also completed the procedural adoption of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) reports of 13 countries in Cycle IV.

The Vietnamese delegation, led by Assistant to Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu, also actively joined the session with various statements and consultations. Along with Bangladesh and the Philippines, Vietnam also co-organised a thematic panel discussion on the adverse impact of climate change on the full realisation of the right to food.

Earlier, the UNHRC ratified the 2023 Resolution on Climate Change and Human Rights with the theme of the adverse impact of climate change on livelihoods and its implications on human rights, which were co-sponsored by 80 countries as of July 14. It has been actively introduced by Vietnam, Bangladesh and the Philippines each year since 2014.

The Vietnamese side also actively delivered speeches in various sessions and discussions on climate change and the right to food, social protection and women’s participation and leadership, the right to health and education, combating human trafficking, extreme poverty, and violence against women and girls.

In these speeches, Vietnam highlighted its priority to strengthening the rule of law, transparency, social security and public safety, as well as undertaking necessary legal and economic reform to support the post-pandemic recovery and step up inclusive and sustainable development.

Vietnam also affirmed its guiding principle of dialogue and cooperation, respect and understanding and human rights for all during its UNHRC membership term for 2023-2025./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A Vietnamese delegation led by Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung attended the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in New York on July 14.

In his speech, Minister Dung presented the Voluntary National Review (VNR) on Vietnam’s implementation of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in 2023, emphasising that the process of preparing Vietnam’s second VNR was conducted through 10 steps to mobilise the participation of all relevant parties from the beginning and ensure the showcase of their roles and voices.

The entire political system and society have made efforts to implement SDGs with the core principle of “leaving no one behind” and have gained certain achievements in the process, affirmed the minister.

He highlighted six solutions for Vietnam to successfully implement these goals in the remaining half of the journey, namely placing people at the centre of all decisions, enhancing the quality of human resources, strengthening the management and efficient use of resources, protect the environment, mobilising and effectively utilising financial resources for the work, and further improving the availability of data to serve the monitoring and evaluation of the SDGs implementation.

The official took the occasion to highlight Vietnam’s commitment to continue playing its role as a responsible member of the international community and actively contributing to joint efforts so that no individual or nation is left behind in this process.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by UN member states in September 2015, with the focus on 17 SDGs. The VNR is considered a mechanism for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the agenda and SDGs on a global scale. Vietnam first developed and presented its VNR in 2018./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The ASEAN Federation of Forwarders Associations (AFFA) Mid-Year 2023 conference opened in the central coastal city of Da Nang on July 15 to discuss measures to create favourable conditions for trans-border logistics and human resources development, while promoting digitalisation in the field of logistics in the region.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Assistant to Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Hang said the global logistics industry is entering to a recovery period, overcoming difficulties caused by the COVID-19 and conflicts in the world with an estimated growth rate of 4% in 2023 and 3% in 2024.

Notably, Asia-Pacific region is considered as the most dynamic developing region and expecting to become a growth drive of the global economy by 2025.

Hang acknowledged that Vietnam’s logistics industry has enjoyed an impressive growth with a rate of up to 16%,, ranking in the top 10 in the Emerging Markets Logistics Index. Logistics is considered as an important service sector in Vietnam’s economy; therefore, the country wishes to expand collaboration with ASEAN member states to develop the industry on a global scale in a green and sustainable orientation.

Alvin Chua, Chairman of the AFFA, said despite many difficulties, associations and enterprises need to promote digitalisation and sustainable growth. The sustainability and Digitalisation Working Group (S&D) of the AFFA will start working from the conference.

Somsak Wisetruangrot, Chairman of AFFA Logistics Institute, ephasised that ASEAN countries need to pay attention in high quality human resources training and strengthen experience, knowledge sharing, training courses to improve human resources quality in the coming time.

Edwin Chee, Managing Director of SLP Vietnam Company Limited, said favourable geographical position will help businesses investing in Vietnam significantly reduce logistics costs. As a result, Vietnam is becoming more attractive to FDI investors and global third-party logistics service providers.

He stressed that Vietnam needs to soon establish a new transshipment port that can enhance the country’s connectivity with international markets, facilitate the flow of goods, reduce transit time, and improve efficiency of overall outcome of the supply chain.

AFFA, established in December 1991, is a regional intergovernmental organisation comprising 10 Southeast Asian nations which promotes freight forwarding through intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates cargo transport./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam’s consistent position is that the disputes in the East Sea between the parties involved need to be resolved through peaceful means in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), respecting diplomatic and legal processes, and contributing to peace and cooperation in the waters, Spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang affirmed on July 15.

Hang made the remarks regarding Vietnam’s standpoint on the occasion of the 7th anniversary of the Arbitral Tribunal Ruling on the East Sea.

The official stated Vietnam once again reaffirms its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) in compliance with international law, and its legitimate rights over its maritime zones established in accordance with the UNCLOS./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency