Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son on June 23 attended the Asia and Pacific High-level Conference on Belt and Road Cooperation at the invitation of China State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
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| At the Asia and Pacific High-level Conference on Belt and Road Cooperation__Photo: VNA |
In his remarks, Son called on the international community to continue supporting countries, particularly developing nations, to soon push back the COVID-19 pandemic, shift towards the green and circular economy, and expand trade and investment, to promote sustainable and inclusive recovery.
Regional cooperation plays an important role as it helps Asia-Pacific recover and adapt to rapid changes of the global economy, the minister said.
He, therefore, suggested countries enhance multilateral cooperation, carry forward regional cooperative frameworks and initiatives in the region such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Belt and Road Initiative, step up assistance to developing countries to complete sustainable development goals by 2030, and share experience and transfer technologies on green economy.
Son highlighted Vietnam’s dual goals of pandemic containment and socio-economic recovery and development, adding the country will also press ahead with international economic integration, and expand and deepen cooperation with countries in Asia-Pacific, for peace, prosperity and sustainable development in the region.
Themed “Promoting Cooperation on Combating the Pandemic for Sustainable Recovery”, the event focused its discussion on challenges faced by the region, especially COVID-19 impacts, and efforts to cope with the pandemic and promote economic recovery, towards developing green and circular economy for sustainable and inclusive growth on both regional and national scales.
Participants highlighted a need to enhance the sharing of information and experience in the fight against the pandemic. They expressed support for COVAX Facility and called on development partners and international organizations to continue assisting developing nations in accessing vaccines at reasonable costs.
They called for stepping up cooperation in vaccine research and production technology transfer while encouraging regional and global financial organizations to provide preferential credits for developing countries to effectively cope with the pandemic.
Priorities should be given to the full and on-schedule fulfillment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals till 2030 and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, cooperation in green economic development and environment, sustainable infrastructure development, clean energy, and improvement of the capacity to respond to climate change.
Several opinions said Belt and Road cooperation could positively contribute to the region’s common efforts via connectivity projects, facilitation of trade and investment, vaccine production and supply, green and circular economic development.- (VNA/VLLF)
