Ambassador highlights fisheries cooperation, development of ASEAN, Vietnam

Geneva (VNA) – Ambassador Mai Phan Dung, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN in Geneva, on March 7 affirmed the importance the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) attaches to fisheries cooperation and Vietnam’s achievements in developing this sector.

He delivered speeches while attending an interactive dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food.

On behalf of ASEAN, Dung stated that the bloc always attaches importance to fisheries cooperation and considers this as one of the economic integration priorities that plays an important role in ensuring food security, promoting the economies, and boosting livelihoods across the region.

He also shared many initiatives of the regional grouping aiming to assist small-scale producers, including the Strategic Plan of Action on ASEAN Cooperation on Fisheries (2021 - 2025) that identifies strategic priorities such as enhancing the fisheries and aquaculture sector’s resilience to climate change and natural shocks, and helping small-scale producers improve productivity and competitiveness.

The ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on Strengthening Food Security and Nutrition in Response to Crises, adopted last September, emphasises the commitment to facilitating fishermen’s access to finance to improve the long-term resilience and sustainability of fisheries, the diplomat noted, adding it also stresses the necessity to utilise available resources in ASEAN for food production, especially for small-scale farmers, fishermen, and other groups vulnerable to food insecurity.

Delivering the speech of Vietnam, Ambassador Dung highlighted the country’s efforts and achievements in fisheries development and gave a brief presentation of Vietnam’s strategy for fisheries development by 2030, with a vision to 2045.

He affirmed that Vietnam will continue promoting and protecting the rights of workers, especially women, in the fisheries and aquaculture sector. It will assist them to access finance, market information, capital, and suitable technology while ensuring stable-income jobs and safe network for them.
         
Earlier, at the dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, Minister Counsellor Cung Duc Han, Deputy Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN, noted the country’s commitment to enhancing cultural rights and inclusive participation in science.

The Constitution of Vietnam protects all people’s right to scientific or technological research and literary or art creation, and their entitlement to benefits from those activities, he went on.

Echoing the UN Special Rapporteur’s recommendations that aim to boost the effective engagement of vulnerable groups, Han said that under the socio-economic development strategy for 2021 - 2030 with a vision to 2045, Vietnam has carried out many initiatives to remove barriers and open up more opportunities for exploration, reform, and sustainable development./.