President Vo Van Thuong (R) and Queen Mathilde of Belgium, who is on a visit to Vietnam in her capacity as Honorary President of UNICEF Belgium. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – President Vo Van Thuonghosted a reception in Hanoi on May 9 for Queen Mathilde of Belgium, who is on a visit to Vietnam in her capacity as Honorary President of UNICEF Belgium.
President Thuong welcomedthe Queen’s visit on the occasion of the 50th anniversary ofbilateral diplomatic ties and the fifth anniversary of strategic partnership inagriculture between Vietnam and Belgium.
He conveyed his invitation of King Philippeand the Queen to visit Vietnam soon to discuss measures to deepen bilateralcooperation in various areas.
QueenMathilde shared her excitement about her upcoming trip to northern Lao Cai provinceto witness the outstanding results of childcare facilities there and Vietnam’sachievements in sustainable development. She also hopes to learn about difficulties that Vietnam is facing in child health care and protection, especially issues relatedto education, nutrition, and mental health.
TheVietnamese President said for many years, the Vietnamese Party, State, andpeople have always paid attention to child care, education and protection, withthe view of dedicating the best things to children. Along with that, Vietnamhas been fine-tuning its legal system and launching policies related tochildren such as poverty reduction, new rural development, education, health careand social care. Child care work has been carried out synchronously from the centralto local levels.
He took the occasion to thank Belgium, UNICEF Belgium and QueenMathilde for their continuous support and cooperation with Vietnam in childprotection and care, donating significant resources to help Vietnam improvethe effectiveness of the effort.
According to him, Vietnam still faces challenges, such as thegrowing development gap among regions, and differences in health and nutrition among areas, especially in remote and disadvantaged regions.
The host believed that while visiting projects funded by UNICEFBelgium in Vietnamese localities, Mathilde will have the opportunity to betterunderstand Vietnam’s efforts, achievements and difficulties in the field.
Speaking highly of the guest’s suggestions, hewished that UNICEFBelgium would continue helping Vietnam fine-tune policies and laws related tochildren, allocate resources to support Vietnam, especially in education andhealth care so that Vietnam could better care for and educate children in thefuture./.
