NEW YORK — Minister of Foreign Affairs Bùi Thanh Sơn attended many bilateral meetings with his foreign counterparts on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly’s 76th session in New York.
At a meeting with the Foreign Minister of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Sơn highlighted the progress and high potential of bilateral trade, suggesting that the two sides work more closely together to prepare for the third meeting of the bilateral Joint Committee and the second Political Consultation.
He also proposed that Qatar strengthen cooperation with Việt Nam in energy and liquefied gas supply, while continuing to receive more Vietnamese workers in the oil and gas sector.
Meeting Belarusian FM Vladimir Makei, the Vietnamese official underlined the need to further foster bilateral collaboration, especially in economy and trade.
He proposed that both sides maintain the exchange of delegations at all levels, and asked for Belarus to support Việt Nam in running for a seat at the United Nations Human Rights Council in the 2023-2025 tenure.
During a discussion with his counterpart from Côte d’Ivoire, Kandia Kamissoko Camara, Sơn affirmed that Việt Nam attached importance to strengthening ties with traditional friends in Africa, including Côte d’Ivoire. He suggested that the two countries bolster cooperation in agriculture, trade, the coffee industry, farm produce processing and mining.
At a meeting with Cameroon’s FM Lejeune Mbella Mbella, the Vietnamese FM said that both sides should further promote trade and agricultural partnerships, while asking Cameroon to support and create favourable conditions for Vietnamese businesses to invest and operate in the country.
Meeting Deputy Prime Minister and FM of Congo Christophe Lutundula, Sơn stressed that Việt Nam hoped to expand and enhance partnership with African partners, including Congo.
He emphasised that Việt Nam was willing to send agricultural experts to support Congo. Sơn suggested that the two countries increase coordination to mark the 60th anniversary of bilateral relations (1961-2021), while maintaining the exchange of delegations, fostering cooperation in agriculture, mining, health care and education training, as well as collaboration at the UN and international organisations.
Sơn asked for Congo’s support in setting up relations with the American Union (AU).
During his meeting with UN Under-Secretary-General and UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner, Sơn praised the positive and effective assistance from the UNDP to Việt Nam, and welcomed the UNDP prioritising cooperation in poverty reduction, post-crisis management and recovery, and clean and green energy development.
He said that the UNDP’s cooperation programmes matched the socio-economic development strategy of Việt Nam in the 2021-2030 period. He expressed hope that the organisation would continue to give policy consultation to Việt Nam, in both COVID-19 adaptation and post-pandemic recovery and development.
Steiner said he hoped that Việt Nam would strengthen cooperation with the UNDP by sharing its experiences with other countries, pledging that the UNDP would be willing to work with Việt Nam in green growth, institution modernisation, innovation promotion, and climate change response.
Sơn also attended the ASEAN-US Conference, held both in-person and virtually, during which he welcomed the US' active and responsible contributions to peace, stability and cooperation in the region, and highly valued its helpful support to ASEAN countries in the COVID-19 fight.
He proposed that the US continue to prioritise the provision of COVID-19 vaccines to ASEAN members.
The same day, Deputy FM Đặng Hoàng Giang attended the Ministerial Meeting of the Alliance for Multilateralism. He called on the international community to focus on COVID-19 vaccine production for the COVAX initiative, eliminating all trans-border barriers against vaccine supply and strengthening cooperation in vaccine production and technology transfer. Vaccines should be considered a common asset of the world.
Giang proposed an increase in international collaboration ensuring all countries' access to oxygen supplies, test kits and medicines, as well as opportunities to enhance their capacity in detecting and controlling new variants of SARS-CoV-2.
He also underlined the significance of; strengthening the exchange of experiences in post-pandemic rebuilding; assisting developing countries in improving their resilience in health care, economy and environment, as well as an inclusive, green and sustainable economic development that leaves no one behind. VNS