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

Hanoi: The upcoming official visit to China by National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue at the invitation of Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China, is expected to contribute to outlining strategic orientations for bilateral relations, thus further deepening the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Vietnam and China, and cooperation between their legislative bodies in particular, said Vice chairwoman of the NA Committee for External Relations Le Thu Ha.

In a recent interview gratnted to the Vietnam News Agency, Ha highlighted the significance of the visit, saying that it will help promote a higher political trust and consolidating a stronger social foundation, towards concretising high-level common perceptions and outcomes achieved during Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit to China in October 2022 and General Secretary, President of China Xi Jinping’s visit to Vietnam in December last year.

The visit also aims to affirm
the consistent policy of the Vietnamese Party and State of taking developing relations with China as a top priority and a strategic choice in the foreign policy.

Since the establishment of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership 15 years ago, the relationship between the two Parties and countries has continuously expanded and deepened, with cooperation in various fields achieving comprehensive progress, she said, adding that high-level exchanges and meetings between leaders of the two countries have contributed to strengthening political trust and strategic orientation.

In the overall effort to promote increasingly high political trust, cooperation between the Vietnamese NA and the National People’s Congress of China has been continuously intensified. Leaders of the two sides have been maintaining high-level exchanges through various flexible forms.

The two sides have also maintained consultation and close coordination at regional and international inter-parliamentary forums, especially in the
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), she said.

In Hue’s visit, the two sides plan to sign a new cooperation agreement to replace the old one between the Vietnamese NA and the National People’s Congress of China inked in 2015 with new contents. The signing of the new agreement will be a significant milestone in the history of the relations between the legislative bodies of the two countries, establishing a legal basis to elevate the cooperation between the legislatures to a level commensurate with the bilateral relations between the two countries, Ha went on.

She expressed her belief that the visit by NA Chairman Hue and the signing of the new cooperation agreement will contribute to elevating and further deepening the relationship between the two legislative bodies, thus turning this relationship into a crucial pillar within the overall relations between the two Parties and two States./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Thua Thien – Hue: Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on April 6 asked the central province of Thua Thien-Hue to optimise its potential and unique strengths to become an urban area with identity, which develops in a smart, adaptive, green, clean, beautiful, safe, and sustainable manner.

Addressing a conference to announce the planning of the province in the 2021-2030 period with a vision to 2050 and promote investment in the province in 2024, the Government leader underlined that Thua Thien – Hue has an important strategic position as a bridge connecting the North and the South, a gateway to the sea of the East – West trans-Asia corridor through Northern Thailand – Southern Laos – Central Vietnam, which brings the locality great potential for marine and lagoon economic development.

Thua Thien-Hue is also a land of spirituality, outstanding people, and rich culture, enabling it to be an attractive tourist destination with a rich history and unique culture with many cultural heritage sites and historical relics of
Vietnam and the world, he added.

PM Chinh underlined the need to internationalise the values of the national cultural identities and nationalise the quintessence of the world culture.

Highly valuing the design of the provincial planning and the Thua Thien-Hue urban planning, he asked the province to focus on effectively mobilising and utilising resources to promote traditional driving forces of investment, export, and consumption, while creating breakthroughs in new motivations such as green economy, digital economy, circular economy, sharing economy, knowledge economy, climate change response, sustainable development, investment in cultural industry, and entertainment industry.

Meanwhile, the locality should concentrate on enhancing human resources quality and strengthen connectivity with domestic and international regions through transportation systems, production systems, supply chains, culture and tourism, he said.

The PM also highlighted the need for Thua Thien-Hue to strengthen the development of a
concerted comprehensive strategic infrastructure system, while increasing industrial promotion to serve the cultural industry, tourism, processing industry, manufacturing, production, and supply chains for the region and the world, promoting the application of science and technology, innovation in production and business, creating stable jobs and livelihoods for people, and securing fast and sustainable growth.

Under the provincial planning of Thua Thien-Hue in the 2021-2030 period with a vision to 2050, Thua Thien-Hue is expected to become a centrally-run city in 2025 and a typical heritage city of Vietnam in 2030, as well as one of the major and unique centres of Southeast Asia in terms of culture, tourism, and intensive health care.

By 2030, the locality’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) expansion is expected to reach 9-10% per year, with industry-construction contributing 33-35%, and services accounting for 56%. Its urbanisation rate is hoped to reach about 70%. In 2030, the province’s population
is predicted to hit 1.3 million.

Thua Thien – Hue will form and develop a number of economic corridors, including the North – South Economic Corridor, East – West Economic Corridor, Urban Economic Corridor towards the sea, along with driving centres of Hue city, Chan May – Lang Co economic zone, and Phong Dien industrial park.

The Government leader called on businesses and investors to share visions and actions with the locality, pioneering in renovation and contributing ideas to the province in administrative reform and improving the local investment environment.

At the event, Thua Thien – Hue authorities granted investment licences and investment policy approval decisions to 11 projects with a total capital of nearly 9 trillion VND (360.5 million USD), while presenting research documents for 10 projects with a capital of about 120 trillion VND in the fields of infrastructure, tourism, mechanics, energy, logistics, housing, education, health care, and digital data.

The same day, PM Chinh attended the gro
undbreaking ceremony for Hue International Central Hospital No.2.

Construction of the hospital, one of the five special-level to be upgraded to international-level, is expected to be completed in 2026.

With an investment of nearly 400 billion VND, the hospital will have a total floor area of 21,000 sq.m./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue’s upcoming visit to China is expected to create a spillover effect, creating a strong motivation and momentum for the development of the relations between Vietnam and China.

This will be the first visit to China by Hue as the NA Chairman, and also the first direct meeting between the heads of the two countries’ legislatures after the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC)

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 th
e 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.

Commenting on the relations between Vietnam and China recently, Vietnamese Ambassador to China Pham Sao Mai said that with the joint efforts of both sides, the relationship between the two Parties and the two countries has developed positively
and reaped many important achievements in all fields.

Leaders of the two Parties, States, Governments, parliaments, and fronts have regularly maintained meetings and exchanges, contributing to strengthening political trust and reinforcing the political foundation for the ties between the two Parties and countries, he said.

Especially, the historical visits by CPV General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong to China in October 2022 and CPC General Secretary and Chinese President Xi Jinping to Vietnam in December 2023 created strong momentum for the two Parties and countries to continuously reinforce and promote their neighbourliness and comprehensive cooperation.

The outstanding feature of meetings between high-ranking leaders of the two countries is that they affirm that they take each other as the priority in their external relations.

At multilateral forums, especially ASEAN and the UN, Vietnam and China have actively coordinated with each other, promoting peace, stability, and cooperation in the region and the w
orld.

Meanwhile, economic, trade and investment cooperation has been deepened and made more substantive, becoming a bright spot in the two countries’ relations recently.

China continuously remains Vietnam’s largest trade partner and second largest export market, while Vietnam is China’s largest trade partner among the ASEAN member countries, and China’s fifth largest trade partner in the world after the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Russia.

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.

Vietnam and China shared many bilateral cooperation agreements as well as multilateral deals such as the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). China is promoting the process to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Sinc
e the two sides implemented commitments of the ACFTA, China has reduced tax rates for more than 8,000 products imported from Vietnam, including farm produce and fresh fruits.

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%. The two sides have also actively coordinated to settle major problems in a number of previous economic cooperation projects.

Cooperation in culture, education, tourism, and people-to-people exchange, especially contacts between the youth of the two countries, has been promoted, helping enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the two Parties, countries, and peoples.
So far, nearly 60 cities and provinces across Vietnam have set up friendship relations with Chinese localities.

In terms of tourism, before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, China had led in the number of tourists to Vietnam for many years. On average, for every three foreign visitors to Vietnam, there was one Chinese. Currently, China has basically restored commercial flights with Vietnam with more than 200 two-way flights between the two countries each week. China has also reissued visas for Vietnamese students and workers returning to China. In 2023, there were more than 1.7 million Chinese visitors to Vietnam. In the first three months of 2024, the figure reached nearly 890,000, an increase of 634.5% over the same period last year.

According to Ambassador Mai, NA Chairman Hue’s visit to China from April 7-12 is crucial to maintaining high-level exchanges, upholding the strategic orientations for bilateral relations, and realising the common perceptions shared by the top leaders of the two Parties and cou
ntries, affirming that Vietnam considers developing ties with China as the top priority and a strategic choice in its external policy.

The visit also aimed to concretise six major directions of cooperation between the two countries, especially promoting “higher political trust” and consolidating a “stronger social foundation”, contributing to raising the level of the bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Vietnam and China for the benefit of the two peoples, for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

In addition, in the context that the relationship between the National Assembly of Vietnam and the National People’s Congress (NPC) of China has been constantly consolidated and developed well, the visit is expected to contribute to deepening and improving the effectiveness of cooperation between the two legislatures, affirming the important role of the Vietnamese National Assembly’s foreign affairs in the country’s development./.

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