PM Nguyen Tan Dung speaks at the 10th ASEM Summit. (VGP)
NDO – Our correspondent Ha Thanh Giang recaps Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s visit to Milan, Italy from October 16-17, during which he attended the 10th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).
For two days in mid October, the city of Milan became particularly active as it hosted the 10th Asia-Europe Meeting. Milan, located in Northern Italy, is well known as a major world fashion and design capital, as well as the site of ancient and magnificent architecture − most notably the Milan Cathedral. The Gothic cathedral which took nearly six centuries to complete is the fifth largest cathedral in the world and the largest in the Italian state territory. Every street corner, house or brick in Milan creates a sense of eternal values that crystallised throughout the thousand year history of ancient Roman civilisation. Along the way to the Milan International Convention Centre, home to the 10th ASEM summit, the tinkling electric trains through the ancient streets brought back nostalgia for the old Hanoi.
Founded in 1996, ASEM is a high-level and large-scale inter-governmental platform of dialogue and co-operation between Europe and Asia. The 10th summit officially accepted Kazakhstan and Croatia as its members, making the ASEM a 53-member forum. After nearly two decades, Vietnam continues to be a proactive, motivated, and responsible member of the forum. The country hosted the fifth ASEM in 2004 and five ministerial meetings on economics, science-technology, foreign affairs, education, and labour. Vietnam’s initiatives on water resource management, green growth and climate change response were highly appreciated by other members at the ninth ASEM in Laos in 2012. During the 10th summit, Vietnam also proposed several initiatives, with a focus on the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, vocational training and human resources development, water resource management, natural disaster responses, and the Mekong-Danube co-operation.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung was among the few keynote introductory speakers in the second plenary session on enhancing dialogue and co-operation between Europe and Asia and the future direction of ASEM. In his speech at the session, he also called for preventive diplomatic actions that would contribute to sustainable and transparent security architecture, respond to changes, and ensure the interests of all countries. The PM affirmed that Vietnam is consistent in its stance on joining ASEAN members and the international community, in promoting dialogue and exerting all efforts in line with international law to maintain peace, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation as well as co-operation for development in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific. PM Dung emphasised that as a country torn by war throughout decades, Vietnam is fully aware of its responsibility of playing a constructive role, together with ASEM members, in maintaining peace, security, stability in the Southeast Asia, the Asia and Europe continents and the world.
Vietnam and many countries attending the 10th ASEM summit agreed on the need to increase collaboration to maintain peace, security and stability. The leaders vowed to make efforts to ensure freedom, security, and maritime and aviation safety in line with the principle of refraining from the use of force or threat to use force, and abiding by international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Vietnam’s message delivered by PM Nguyen Tan Dung at the summit helped the European media better understand Vietnam, a dynamic country with an endless aspirations for peace, stability, and contribution to the growth of the region and the world. Many European press agencies and newspaper turned the spotlight on PM Nguyen Tan Dung’s agenda during his working trip to Europe. Corriere della Sera, a leading newspaper of Italy, ran an interview with the Vietnamese PM on topics related to the organisation of the 10th ASEM by the host country, the Vietnam – Italy relations, and the Vietnamese people’s feelings of the Italian culture.
Through the 10th ASEM summit, economics, investment and trade co-operation among member countries were promoted more than ever. No sooner had the 10th ASEM finished than a delegation of senior officials of the Italian Government accompanied PM Nguyen Tan Dung and the Vietnam delegation to make a field trip to a manufacturing facility of Alenia Aermacchi, an Italian aerospace company, a subsidiary of Finmeccanica group, the leading industrial group in the high technology sector in Italy and one of the main global players in aerospace, defence and security. The group’s leaders expressed their appreciation for Vietnam’s past struggle for independence and its current process of national development. They also expressed their wish to invest in Vietnam and contribute to the country’s development and prosperity.
The 10th ASEM Summit came to a successful close with a strong impression left by the Vietnamese delegation, once again confirming the increasing position of Vietnam in the international arena. After the ASEM 10, PM Nguyen Tan Dung arrived in Rome to meet Pope Francis and PM Pietro Parolin as part of his one-day visit to the Vatican. Vietnam always attaches importance to relations with the Vatican, said PM Nguyen Tan Dung, adding that the country appreciated the active contribution of the Catholic Church to the national development and defense, as well as persistently pursues and constantly refines its policies on respecting and safeguarding people’s rights to religion and faith freedom.
Đăng ký: VietNam News
