President welcomes Honorary President of UNICEF Belgium
Hanoi (VNA) – President Vo Van Thuong
hosted 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 welcomed
the Queen’s visit on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of
bilateral diplomatic ties and the fifth anniversary of strategic partnership in
agriculture between Vietnam and Belgium.
He conveyed his invitation of King Philippe
and the Queen to visit Vietnam soon to discuss measures to deepen bilateral
cooperation in various areas.
Queen
Mathilde shared her excitement about her upcoming trip to northern Lao Cai province
to witness the outstanding results of childcare facilities there and Vietnam’s
achievements in sustainable development. She also hopes to learn about difficulties that Vietnam is facing in child health care and protection, especially issues related
to education, nutrition, and mental health.
The
Vietnamese President said for many years, the Vietnamese Party, State, and
people have always paid attention to child care, education and protection, with
the view of dedicating the best things to children. Along with that, Vietnam
has been fine-tuning its legal system and launching policies related to
children such as poverty reduction, new rural development, education, health care
and social care. Child care work has been carried out synchronously from the central
to local levels.
He took the occasion to thank Belgium, UNICEF Belgium and Queen
Mathilde for their continuous support and cooperation with Vietnam in child
protection and care, donating significant resources to help Vietnam improve
the effectiveness of the effort.
According to him, Vietnam still faces challenges, such as the
growing 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 UNICEF
Belgium in Vietnamese localities, Mathilde will have the opportunity to better
understand Vietnam’s efforts, achievements and difficulties in the field.
Speaking highly of the guest’s suggestions, he
wished that UNICEF
Belgium would continue helping Vietnam fine-tune policies and laws related to
children, allocate resources to support Vietnam, especially in education and
health care so that Vietnam could better care for and educate children in the
future./.