On the side of center, attending were Mr. Bui Thanh Son - Member of the Party Central Committee, Permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mr. Dang Minh Khoi - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; 31 Ambassadors and Oversea Consulate General of Vietnam for the term 2020-2023.
On the side of Binh Duong province and localities, attending were Mr. Tran Van Nam - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation; Mr. Tran Thanh Liem - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Mr. Vo Van Minh - Member of Provincial Standing Committee, Chairman of Provincial People's Council; leaders of departments, agencies, districts, towns, cities, associations and businesses in the province and representatives of 19 provinces and cities in the South.
Aspiration to reach international arena
Discussing at the seminar, the representatives of southern provinces and cities shared information on socio-economic development, results in foreign affairs; also, proposed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Vietnamese overseas representative missions the contents to continue effectively implementing foreign affairs and international cooperation in the coming time.
Overview of the seminar
Leaders of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Binh Duong province attend the seminar
Southern provinces comprise 6 provinces and cities in the Southeast region and 13 provinces and cities of the Mekong River Delta, with an area of about 64,000 km2 (accounting for 20.3% of the country's area) about 34.5 million people (accounting for 37.7% of the country's population). In which, the Southeast is the country's leading major economic region with regional and international influences; economic scale and budget revenue ranks first in the country contributing 33% of GDP, accounting for a large proportion (50%) of the value of industrial production and the total export and import turnover of the country; The GRDP per capita is 2 times higher than the national average; the highest rate of urbanization in the country (62.8%); The economic growth rate of the region is always about 1.2 to 1.4 times higher than the national average. The provinces in the Mekong River Delta have strengths in agriculture, trade, services, seafood production and processing and are the country's rice granary which play a key role in ensuring national food security; contribute about 70% of total seafood export turnover and 90% of total rice export value of the country. With potentials and strengths in socio-economic development, geographical location, open investment environment, synchronous investment in infrastructure and interest in implementing comprehensive external economic activities in many fields, over the past years, the provinces and cities in the Southern region have always been a reliable and attractive destination for foreign investors , have been the key industrial and service center and always the driving force to promote socio-economic development, making an important contribution to the development of the country.
Mr. Tran Van Nam - Secretary of Binh Duong Provincial Party Committee speaks at the Seminar
Sharing information with Vietnamese Ambassadors and Oversea Consulate General, Mr. Tran Van Nam - Secretary of Binh Duong Provincial Party Committee said that being the Southeastern province, locating in the Southern Key Economic Zone, over the past years, Binh Duong province has affirmed its role, position and aspiration to rise in regional and international connectivity. Binh Duong is thriving in industry and services and is one of the top provinces and cities in the country in attracting foreign investment capital (ranked third in the country, behind Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi) with nearly 3,900 projects, total capital of over 35 billion USD from 65 countries and territories around the world. In addition to actively promoting external economic activities, successfully organizing conferences and seminars of international stature; Binh Duong province is also actively expanding friendly bilateral relationship, sisterhood relation with the localities of the countries in the world, and building multilateral cooperation relationships with international organizations. Up to now, Binh Duong has signed friendly cooperation with 10 foreign provinces and cities and is currently an official member, a reliable partner of 04 highly prestigious international organizations such as: World Technopolis Association (WTA), Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), Horasis Asia Meeting and World Trade Centers Association (WTCA). In particular, for 2 consecutive years, Binh Duong has been honored as one of 21 cities and regions with the world's typical smart city strategy. Following the successes in implementing the Smart City Construction Project, Binh Duong is continuing to take a new step, namely implementing the Project "Binh Duong Innovation Region" and planning science and technology industrial park in Bau Bang district. This project is expected to create a lever to promote and build Binh Duong to become a province with innovation ecosystem and broader culture of sustainable innovation, the foundation for building attractive investment environment, gradually become smart production area, region of innovation, contribute to socio-economic development and improve international integration efficiency.
The Secretary emphasized that with the fairly comprehensive successes in the province's foreign activities in recent years, Binh Duong is continuing to promote internal strengths, improve the investment and business environment, and enhance provincial competitiveness; to continue investing in socio-economic infrastructure; to prioritize the development of industries and services in association with planning, investment in construction and urban development; to actively and proactively integrate into the world, to strengthen the bilateral and multilateral cooperation, to continue to be an attractive destination for investors, the reliable place to organize foreign affair events of international stature.
Provincial representatives speak at the seminar
Mr. Ly Ngoc Minh - General Director of Minh Long I Co., Ltd. proposes some contents at the seminar
Bac Lieu, Ca Mau, Dong Nai, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Ben Tre, Binh Phuoc, Kien Giang and representatives of Trade association, etc. have proposed to Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ambassadors, Vietnam Overseas General Consulate acting as a bridge for localities to expand export markets for seafood products and high-tech agricultural products; promote tourism potential; directions to attract foreign investment and projects calling for investment in the field of social security; develop e-commerce trading floor, etc.
Actively supporting connecting requirements
Vietnamese Ambassador in the Kingdom of Belgium and permanent representative in Europe, Mr Nguyen Van Thao, shared that in the current context, Vietnam needs to be active in economic development and have more active strategies. Vietnam is one of the ASEAN regional countries with many favorable conditions for development, in which, Vietnam takes the lead in signing free trade agreements, bilateral agreements with European Union and some countries such as German Federation, Czech Republic, etc. These are very favorable conditions for Vietnam in general and localities to promote economic cooperation. The Covid 19 pandemic has affected many fields, but this is also an opportunity for Vietnam to boost exports and attract investment after Covid-19. The southern provinces and cities have great potentials for economic development and have achieved important achievements, for example, Binh Duong's export and investment attraction. In addition, the dynamism and strong commitment of local leaders has increased confidence and pride in Ambassadors and Consulate General when working oversea. Ambassador Mr Nguyen Van Thao hopes that, in the coming time, localities will closely coordinate with oversea Vietnamese representative, helping the Ambassadors and Consulate General to fulfill their assigned tasks. At the same time, localities assign specific contact points in order that two sides will share information between host countries and localities to implement cooperation.
Vietnamese Ambassador in the Kingdom of Belgium and permanent representative in Europe, Nguyen Van Thao, share at the seminar
Speaking at the seminar, Permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Bui Thanh Son assessed that, over the past years, foreign affairs have been actively and effectively deployed from central to local levels, thereby enhancing Vietnam's position, opening up new opportunities for cooperation, creating conditions for socio-economic development of the country as well as of all localities. Contributing to the general achievement is an important contribution from localities. Local leaders have paid attention to and directed closely the foreign affairs, the coordination between localities with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the ministries and central branches in implementing the foreign affairs tasks in the locality over the past time smoothly and effectively that help maintain the peaceful and stable environment, independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, create conditions for socio-economic development of the country. Over the past years, Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been actively accompanying localities to strengthen international integration, serving socio-economic development and the network of 94 Vietnamese representative agencies around the world play the important role in this work.
Mr. Bui Thanh Son - Member of Party Central Committee, Permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs speaks at the seminar
Currently, the Covid 19 pandemic has been complicated, having a great impact on the world and the country. International economic cooperation relations have mixed opportunities and challenges. Therefore, Vietnam is stepping up solutions for international economic cooperation more deeply by means of innovative, open and well-guaranteed political security and social order and safety to create confidence for investors. In the coming time, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and overseas Vietnamese representative agencies will better perform their roles and responsibilities to connect southern localities with localities and enterprises around the world.
The delegates take souvenir photos