Vietnam pledges to further enhance cooperation with international organizations and partners, especially countries within the Mekong River Commission and Mekong-Lancang cooperation mechanism, to achieve sustainable cross-border water development goals, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha has said.

Vietnamese Deputy Minister of National Defense Sen. Lieut. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien and Japanese Vice Minister of Defense Masami Oka co-chaired the ninth Vietnam-Japan Defense Policy Dialogue in Tokyo on March 13.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Vietnam Society of International Law held a workshop in Hanoi on March 9 to discuss the role of the United Nations International Law Commission (ILC) in codification and progressive development of international law.

Despite an increase in the number of district-level land use plans and provincial-level land pricing frameworks available online on local government portals in 2022 compared to 2021 as well as local authorities’ better response to citizen requests for land information, provincial and district authorities should do more to meet the mandate of disclosing information online.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met female leaders of centrally-run agencies and presented Kovalevskaia Awards on the occasion of International Women’s Day (March 8) in Hanoi on March 7 to honor the contributions of Vietnamese women to national construction and development.

The Law on Belief and Religion was promulgated in 2016 with many new, open regulations, creating favorable conditions for religious organizations and believers to better exercise the right to freedom of belief and religion while ensuring the effectiveness and effect of state management of belief and religion. This was affirmed by Nguyen Van Long, Chief of the Office of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs (the Ministry of Home Affairs), at a recent interview with the Vietnam News Agency.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang suggested improving internal capacity and national competitiveness on the basis of strengths and characteristics of each least developed country at the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) in Doha, Qatar, from March 5-8.

The 1982 UNCLOS boosted the development of Vietnam’s laws on the sea. The Law on the Sea was promulgated in 2012 and took effect on January 1, 2013, becoming the most comprehensive document on matters related to Vietnam’s seas. It provides a clear definition and legal status of Vietnam’s maritime zones, the enforcement of jurisdiction on the sea, the development of the marine economy, etc.

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on February 24 adopted two resolutions on the organization of the High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response and the High-Level Meeting on the Fight Against Tuberculosis, which are expected to be held during the High-Level Week of the UNGA’s 78th session in September.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue hailed the European Union as a top important partner in Vietnam’s foreign policy during a reception in Hanoi on February 23 for Chair of the European Parliament (EP)’s Committee on Foreign Affairs David McAllister.