Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung left Toronto, Canada on June 29 (Hanoi time), wrapping up a trip to attend the G-20 Summit at the invitation of his Canadian counterpart, Stephen Harper.

At the summit, PM Dung attended working sessions on assessment of the world’s economic development and prospect, implementation of the framework for strong, sustainable and balanced growth, reforms of financial regulations and institutions, anti-protectionism and trade facilitation, and preparations for the next G-20 summit in Seoul, the Republic of Korea, in November.

Leaders of countries and international organisations affirmed their resolve to increase cooperation for sustainable economic recovery on the global scale in parallel with solving challenges many nations are facing such as budget deficit, public debt and unemployment.

The meeting approved a series of measures and policies to concretise the framework for strong, sustainable and balanced growth and agreed to accelerate financial regulatory reform measures with an aim of increasing effectiveness and transparency of the financial system, helping prevent future possible financial crisis.

Basing on consultation and consensus with other ASEAN member countries, Vietnam has compiled documents on the ASEAN’s viewpoint regarding the main points on the agenda at the G-20 summit.

Speaking for ASEAN as the bloc’s chair this year, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung delivered a number of key speeches, which won applauses by participants.

At the session on the framework for strong, sustainable and balanced growth, PM Dung stressed that the ASEAN members highlighted the significance and need to implement the framework as well as the necessity to increase international cooperation, so as to ensure the effective implementation of the framework while avoiding negative effect on non-G20 nations, particularly poor and developing countries.

He proposed a closer mechanism on policy coordination between G20 and ASEAN, which could serve as a pilot model for the cooperation between the G20 bloc and other groups.

At the session on anti-protectionism, the PM voiced ASEAN’s support for G20 countries in opposing all forms of trade and investment protectionism and asked the group to continue taking measures to remove barriers on trade and foreign direct investment.

PM Dung delivered ASEAN’s proposal that it will work together with other blocs, such as the EU, NAFTA, AU and the G-20 to compile and issue a joint statement to express determination to complete the Doha talks within the next 12 months.

Touching on the role of international financial institutions in the global economy, PM Dung asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and regional financial institutions to step up the provision of assistance to developing countries in fulfilling their millennium development goals.

International financial institutions, the WB in particular, need to prioritise initiatives that support the fight against climate change and improve its capacity to coordinate financial resources in the field, he said.

He also urged the IMF to refine its lending tools to suit the conditions of underdeveloped and developing countries.

On the sidelines of the summit, PM Dung had meetings with head delegates of the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, Australia, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Malawi, the UN Secretary General, the WB President and the WTO General Director. They discussed bilateral ties and the summit’s agendas.

The Prime Minister also met with representatives of the Vietnamese community in Canada, the Canada-Vietnam friendship parliamentarians’ group and the Canada-Vietnam friendship association as well as several major Canadian businesses./.