Vietnam’s top priority is to secure a peaceful and stable environment for national development and better lives for people while playing a responsible role in addressing the regional and global challenges, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told German statesmen and scholars at the Koerber Foundation in Berlin on October 15.
He made the statement after raising concern about emerging threats to peace, security and development in the Asia-Pacific. Though the region has emerged as an engine for global economic growth and a new economic and power centre that accounts for nearly 55 percent of global gross domestic product, it still faces many problems such as escalating tension in the Korean Peninsula, territorial disputes in the East Sea and the East China Sea, and especially trust deficiency, he said.
Against such backdrop, the PM urged countries to further uphold the role of multilateral institutions and join hands to build a stable and durable regional architecture that generates capacity to respond to challenges.
“We continue to pursue the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, diversification and multi-lateralization of its external relations. Along that line, Vietnam is a friend and reliable partner of all nations for peace and development. We will spare no effort to build friendship, strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation with all partners, especially neighboring countries, ASEAN members, strategic and comprehensive partners, and traditional friends.”
“It is Vietnam’s consistent policy not to form alliance with one country against another. While firmly safeguarding our legitimate interests, we earnestly wish to work with other countries to build the strategic trust – a mutual and permanent trust, on the basis of the UN Charter and international law, respect for each other’s independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and peaceful settlement of disputes, equal and mutually beneficial cooperation for peace, stability, cooperation and development of the region and the world.”
“We welcome any policy of major powers on the Asia-Pacific region, which respects international law and regional institutions without power politics, imposition, without infringing upon national independence and sovereignty, and promotes equal and mutual-benefit cooperation for peace, security and development in the region,” he said.
The guest put the East Sea issue into the spotlight, saying that the East Sea now hosts the international trade route where as much as half of global shipments pass through, and most of them between Europe and East Asia.
“The recent instability and tension indicate that such common interests can be only secured if all countries, especially the claimant states, seriously abide by international law, the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and refrain from unilateral acts that further complicate the situation, refrain from the threat or use of force, fully implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (South China Sea) (DOC), and work together for early conclusion of the Code of Conduct (COC)”, he went on to say.
Switching attention to the Vietnam – Germany relationship, the guest said Vietnam supports a powerful Germany that plays an active and responsible role in handling matters of world peace, security and development.
According to him, Vietnam and Germany will celebrate the 40th anniversary of their diplomatic relations and the 20 th anniversary of the signing of the Vietnam-EU Framework Cooperation Agreement. He was glad to note that every single stride in the Vietnam-EU relations bears the mark of the Vietnam-Germany cooperation.
The upcoming 10th ASEM Summit in Milan, Italy will discuss different issues of strategic cooperation between Asia and Europe. In that process, the ASEAN-EU cooperation is the nucleus and engine of the Asia-Europe cooperation. Closer cooperation between Vietnam, an active ASEAN member, and Germany, a key EU member will provide impetus for the growth of cooperation between ASEAN and the EU, and between Asia and Europe, he concluded.
Meeting with German Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Sigmar Gabriel earlier on the same day, PM Nguyen Tan Dung hailed Germany as the top economic partner of Vietnam in the European Union, and urged both countries to leverage their strength to achieve better results.
Gabriel said he looked forward to chairing the 14th Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business slated for next month in Ho Chi Minh City, confidently saying that it will create a fresh driving force for bilateral trade and investment.-VNA
He made the statement after raising concern about emerging threats to peace, security and development in the Asia-Pacific. Though the region has emerged as an engine for global economic growth and a new economic and power centre that accounts for nearly 55 percent of global gross domestic product, it still faces many problems such as escalating tension in the Korean Peninsula, territorial disputes in the East Sea and the East China Sea, and especially trust deficiency, he said.
Against such backdrop, the PM urged countries to further uphold the role of multilateral institutions and join hands to build a stable and durable regional architecture that generates capacity to respond to challenges.
“We continue to pursue the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, diversification and multi-lateralization of its external relations. Along that line, Vietnam is a friend and reliable partner of all nations for peace and development. We will spare no effort to build friendship, strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation with all partners, especially neighboring countries, ASEAN members, strategic and comprehensive partners, and traditional friends.”
“It is Vietnam’s consistent policy not to form alliance with one country against another. While firmly safeguarding our legitimate interests, we earnestly wish to work with other countries to build the strategic trust – a mutual and permanent trust, on the basis of the UN Charter and international law, respect for each other’s independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and peaceful settlement of disputes, equal and mutually beneficial cooperation for peace, stability, cooperation and development of the region and the world.”
“We welcome any policy of major powers on the Asia-Pacific region, which respects international law and regional institutions without power politics, imposition, without infringing upon national independence and sovereignty, and promotes equal and mutual-benefit cooperation for peace, security and development in the region,” he said.
The guest put the East Sea issue into the spotlight, saying that the East Sea now hosts the international trade route where as much as half of global shipments pass through, and most of them between Europe and East Asia.
“The recent instability and tension indicate that such common interests can be only secured if all countries, especially the claimant states, seriously abide by international law, the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and refrain from unilateral acts that further complicate the situation, refrain from the threat or use of force, fully implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (South China Sea) (DOC), and work together for early conclusion of the Code of Conduct (COC)”, he went on to say.
Switching attention to the Vietnam – Germany relationship, the guest said Vietnam supports a powerful Germany that plays an active and responsible role in handling matters of world peace, security and development.
According to him, Vietnam and Germany will celebrate the 40th anniversary of their diplomatic relations and the 20 th anniversary of the signing of the Vietnam-EU Framework Cooperation Agreement. He was glad to note that every single stride in the Vietnam-EU relations bears the mark of the Vietnam-Germany cooperation.
The upcoming 10th ASEM Summit in Milan, Italy will discuss different issues of strategic cooperation between Asia and Europe. In that process, the ASEAN-EU cooperation is the nucleus and engine of the Asia-Europe cooperation. Closer cooperation between Vietnam, an active ASEAN member, and Germany, a key EU member will provide impetus for the growth of cooperation between ASEAN and the EU, and between Asia and Europe, he concluded.
Meeting with German Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Sigmar Gabriel earlier on the same day, PM Nguyen Tan Dung hailed Germany as the top economic partner of Vietnam in the European Union, and urged both countries to leverage their strength to achieve better results.
Gabriel said he looked forward to chairing the 14th Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business slated for next month in Ho Chi Minh City, confidently saying that it will create a fresh driving force for bilateral trade and investment.-VNA
