Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung described sustainabledevelopment as the key to fighting rising global challenges in hisaddress to the second plenary session of the 10thEurope Meeting (ASEM) held in Milan,Italy, onOctober 16.
Asia-ASEM should put people at the center of its development, thusstrengthening the two continents' capacity to fight globalissues such as the economic downturn, climate change, disasters and thethreat of epidemics such as Ebola, he said, citing Asia and Europe were hit by70 percent of global disasters and two-thirds of disaster victims were in Asia.
 |
| Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and international leaders at the 10th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) |
The Government leader emphasized priorities for ASEM cooperationsuch as contributing to the Millennium Development Goals and the post-2015agenda, as well as approaches to existing problems such as food security, waterresources, energy and climate change.
He also appreciated the support of other member countries forVietnam'sinitiatives to hold an ASEM conference on protecting water resources to ensurefood security, an ASEM youth week on poverty and a conference on green growthskills toward sustainable development.
At the 14th Asia-Europe Business Forum, the PrimeMinister stressed that Vietnamwas rapidly restructuring its economy and shifting its growth model.
Once 14 free trade agreements currently under negotiation arefinalized and implemented by 2020, the country will be an important link in thelarge Asia-Europe economic network of 56 countries, Dung said.
He urged Asian and European enterprises to implement ASEM actionprograms to facilitate trade and investment, and support developing member countriesto deal with non-traditional security challenges.
ASEM leaders at the forum told businesses to assist governmentsin increasing trade and investment flows; ensuring food, water and energysecurity; developing green technologies; and managing resources in asustainable manner.-
