Reporter: Could you share with us the key results of Party General Secretary and State President To Lam's participation in the Summit of the Future, the 79th UNGA High-level General Debate, and his meetings in the United States?
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son: The working trip of Party General Secretary and State President To Lam, along with a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, to the United Nations Summit of the Future, the 79th UNGA High-level General Debate, and meetings in the United States were a success. The delegation achieved all key goals with nearly 50 bilateral and multilateral activities of the Party General Secretary and State President.
    |
 |
|
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son |
This trip took place at a pivotal time, as the world faces transformative changes. The U.N. Summit of the Future and the 79th session of the UNGA attracted significant attention, with over 155 state and government leaders in attendance. This business trip came one year after Vietnam and the United States upgraded their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership, and as the two countries are preparing to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations. The trip has gained many important achievements.
Firstly, this was the first multilateral diplomatic trip of Party General Secretary and State President To Lam directly attending a meeting of the UNGA. Through his keynotes, Vietnam conveyed a clear and strong message at the highest level about the foreign policy of the 13th National Party Congress. His remarks reflected Vietnam’s aspirations for national development and underscored the nation’s commitment to multilateralism, international law, and the U.N. Charter. Vietnam also joined other nations in shaping key policy directions to address global challenges.
Secondly, Vietnam continues to present itself as a peaceful, stable, friendly, dynamic, innovative, reliable, and responsible member of the international community. The nation is making significant strides in socio-economic development and is eager to contribute further to global efforts for peace, cooperation, and progress. This enhances Vietnam's growing role and reputation on the global stage.
Thirdly, Vietnam effectively took advantage of this trip to deepen relationships with other countries and international organizations. Party General Secretary and State President To Lam held numerous meetings with leaders from various nations and organizations. At these meetings, foreign partners highly appreciated Vietnam's increasing role in the global stage, and expressed their desire to expand cooperation, particularly in new areas, such as innovation, green technology, and digital transformation.
Fourthly, Party General Secretary and State President To Lam engaged in 27 activities with U.S. officials, former leaders, Congress members, businesses, scholars, Vietnamese students, and the Vietnamese community in the country. His speeches at Columbia University and at the event celebrating the one-year anniversary of the upgraded Vietnam-U.S. relationship and toward the celebration of the 30th anniversary of bilateral relations was highly appreciated by attendees. These activities promoted key Vietnamese priorities, such as breakthroughs in fields like AI, semiconductors, high-quality human resource, cybersecurity, and war legacy settlement.
The U.S. showed great respect for the trip through high-level protocol, including a formal meeting between President Joe Biden and Party General Secretary and State President To Lam. This reflects the U.S.'s genuine respect for Vietnam's political system and the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, and their eagerness to further strengthen the Vietnam-U.S. comprehensive strategic partnership.
Numerous cooperation agreements and memorandums of understanding were also signed between businesses from both countries, focusing on key areas, such as high-quality human resource training and cooperation in high-tech sectors and clean energy.
Reporter: What are the next steps in implementing the outcomes of the trip, sir?
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son: We will focus on several priorities as follows.
At the United Nations, Vietnam will continue to actively and responsibly participate in U.N. activities and multilateral forums, demonstrating our distinct role through specific commitments, practical initiatives, and appropriate contribution that align with Vietnam's increasing international standing.
In addition, we need to continue further solidifying a stable and favorable international environment for national development and defense, showcasing a comprehensive and modern diplomatic service in all of the three areas of Party, State, and people-to-people diplomacy. We also need to further strengthen our relations to maximize assistance from key partners and the world in resources, technology transfer, capacity building, green and digital transformation, contributing to national development.
For the relation with the U.S., this visit lays the foundation for ministries, agencies, and localities to push forward strategic, breakthrough, and mutually beneficial areas of cooperation. The focal areas include enhancing political trust; expanding economic-trade-investment cooperation; prioritizing emerging fields such as semiconductors, AI, and green transformation; and accelerating high-quality human resource training. Vietnam will effectively implement defense cooperation agreements, with war legacy settlement, such as dioxin detoxification, unexploded ordnance removal, and searching for Vietnamese martyrs’ remains, remaining top priorities. We will continue to work with the U.S. on finding the U.S. servicemen missing in action.
We will work with the U.S. to contribute to peace, stability, and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific and Indo-Pacific regions. This includes emphasizing ASEAN's central role and enhancing U.S.-ASEAN and Mekong-U.S. partnerships while addressing non-traditional security challenges like climate change, cybersecurity, and water security.
Reporter: Thank you, sir!
Translated by Trung Thanh