The Prime Minister proposed that the two countries should soon have favorable legal bases and foundations; in which it is necessary to focus on negotiating and signing agreements on free trade, investment encouragement and protection, etc.
According to the VNA Special Envoy, during his official visit to the Dominican Republic, on the afternoon of November 21 local time, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh delivered a policy speech at the Dominican Republic's Higher Education Academy for Diplomatic and Consular Training with the theme "Taking new heights in Vietnam-Dominican Republic relations: A bridge of friendship and cooperation between Southeast Asia and Latin America."
Attending the event and listening to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's speech were the Dominican Foreign Minister; Dominican Government officials; representatives of the diplomatic corps in the capital Santo Domingo and a large number of students and professors from the Dominican Republic's Institute of Higher Education for Diplomatic and Consular Training.
In his speech, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh assessed that the Dominican Republic has many favorable conditions such as beautiful natural landscapes; heroic history of building and defending the country; long-standing culture with rich identity; sincere and trustworthy people; high economic growth, developing in a steady trend; stable politics and law, and skillful diplomacy...
Although Vietnam and the Dominican Republic are half a world apart, they share many similarities and complement each other: They have strategic positions in each region; their economies complement and promote each other; their cultures are rich, diverse, and unique, always taking culture as the foundation and source of national identity; their ideals are similar, with the highest goal being national independence and the prosperity and happiness of the people; their politics trust each other; their aspirations to become rich, powerful, and prosperous, contributing to peace, security, and sustainable development of the region and humanity.
Emphasizing that the two countries are close in culture and history of fighting to build and defend the country, the Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam always remembers and appreciates the valuable support of the people of Latin America and the Caribbean, including the Dominican Republic, in the struggle for national liberation and reunification as well as the process of building and developing the country today.
Recalling the words of beloved President Ho Chi Minh affirming the truth "Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom" and the words of Dominican National Liberation Leader Juan Pablo Duarte "Living without a Fatherland is no different than living without honor," Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that this ideology and spirit still illuminate every step forward of the two countries, and is the red thread connecting the most sacred values of the two nations for independence, freedom, prosperity and happiness of the people.
The Prime Minister recalled that in 1965, President Ho Chi Minh met Dominican revolutionary Professor Juan Bosch, who came to Hanoi to attend the Conference of Latin American countries in solidarity with Vietnam.
The statue of Professor Juan Bosch is solemnly placed in Hoa Binh Park, Hanoi Capital and the statue honoring President Ho Chi Minh is placed in a park in the capital Santo Domingo. This is a vivid demonstration of the friendship, steadfastness and loyalty between the two countries.
Sharing about the current world and regional situation, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that the world and the two regions are undergoing profound changes of the times. In general, the world is peaceful overall, but there are wars in some areas; it is generally peaceful, but there are tensions in some areas; it is generally stable, but there are conflicts in some areas.
According to the Prime Minister, in current international relations, there are six basic relationships: between war and peace; between cooperation and competition; between openness, integration and independence and autonomy; between solidarity, association and separation and demarcation; between development and backwardness; between autonomy and dependence. The good news is that peace, cooperation and development are still the major trends of the times.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that in the new era - the era of deep connection and integration, the era of smart technology and innovation, the future of the world is being strongly impacted, shaped and led by five key factors, the main pioneering trends include the explosive development of science and technology and the Fourth Industrial Revolution that has been changing the world; the negative impacts of non-traditional security challenges such as climate change, resource depletion, population aging, natural disasters, food security, water security, cyber security, transnational crime...; the trend of increasing separation, division, polarization under the impact of global geo-strategic and geo-economic competition; the development of digital economy, green economy, circular economy, knowledge economy, sharing economy; Developing high-quality human resources associated with science and technology, innovation, startups, Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
The Prime Minister affirmed that the above issues are of special importance, having a profound and comprehensive impact and influence on every country and every person in the world; no country can solve them alone. Therefore, there is a need for a new mindset, methodology and approach that is national, comprehensive and global.
According to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, more than ever, joining hands and contributing to shaping an international order based on rules, promoting multilateralism and international law is both the benefit and the close responsibility of every country and every nation, especially developing countries like Vietnam and the Dominican Republic.
Providing information on Vietnam's fundamental factors and development perspectives, the Prime Minister said that Vietnam consistently focuses on building three main fundamental factors: building socialist democracy; building a socialist rule-of-law state; and building a socialist-oriented market economy.
The consistent principle is to maintain political stability; take people as the center, subject, goal, driving force and most important resource of development; not sacrifice progress, social justice, social security and the environment to pursue mere economic growth.
Vietnam sets a goal and strategic vision to become a developing country with modern industry and high average income by 2030, and a developed country with high income by 2045. Strongly arouse national spirit, spirit of independence, self-confidence, self-reliance, national pride, and aspiration for national development; closely combine national strength with the strength of the times.
On that basis, Vietnam implements six key policies on foreign affairs; ensuring national defense and security; economic development; building culture; ensuring social progress, equity, and social security; building the Party and political system, and preventing corruption, negativity, and waste.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that after nearly 40 years of Doi Moi, from a country under siege and embargo, Vietnam now has diplomatic relations with 194 countries, including comprehensive strategic partnerships, strategic partnerships and comprehensive partnerships with 32 countries; is an active member of more than 70 international organizations; and has signed 17 free trade agreements with more than 60 of the world's leading economies.
From a poor, backward, war-torn country, Vietnam has become a middle-income developing country; among the 34 largest economies in the world and the top 20 economies in terms of trade (import-export turnover in 2024 reaching about 800 billion USD); ranked 11/133 in the innovation index; increased 11 places on the happiness rankings in 2024.
Vietnam has also taken the lead in successfully implementing many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and has increasingly proactively contributed to common global concerns, including efforts to maintain peace, international security, disaster relief, and humanitarian assistance. Vietnam is strongly committed to energy transition, aiming to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Sharing 5 lessons learned from Vietnam, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that in the coming time, Vietnam will focus on effectively implementing 6 groups of key tasks and solutions, including promoting industrialization and modernization; focusing on prioritizing growth promotion associated with maintaining macroeconomic stability, controlling inflation, ensuring major balances of the economy; renewing traditional growth drivers, while strongly promoting new growth drivers; mobilizing and effectively using all resources, harmoniously combining state resources and social resources, internal resources and external resources; focusing on ensuring social security, protecting the environment, responding to climate change; consolidating and strengthening national defense and security, promoting foreign affairs and international integration.
Affirming that Vietnam attaches great importance to and wishes to promote comprehensive cooperation with the Dominican Republic, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh proposed that the two countries should soon have favorable legal bases and foundations; in which it is necessary to focus on negotiating and signing agreements on free trade, investment encouragement and protection, visa exemption, tourism, culture, education and training, science and technology, energy, oil and gas, telecommunications, agriculture, and climate change response...
On that basis, the Prime Minister proposed to strengthen cooperation in 6 priority areas. First, continue to maintain, consolidate and foster political trust, especially high-level delegation exchanges, strongly promote the cooperative, friendly and solidarity relationship between the State, Government and People of the two countries; promote local cooperation and people-to-people exchange.
Second, make economic, trade and investment cooperation an important pillar of bilateral relations, more commensurate with each side's potential; identify and resolutely implement major projects that are symbolic in bilateral relations, with the nature of turning the situation around and changing the status quo.
Third, strengthen cooperation in agriculture, science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, and green transformation - areas with much room and potential for cooperation.
Fourth, further strengthen cooperation in education, training, people-to-people exchange, tourism and culture. In particular, the Prime Minister suggested that the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam strengthen cooperation with the Dominican Academy of Advanced Education for Diplomatic and Consular Training, especially student exchange.
Fifth, promote multilateral cooperation, uphold the United Nations Charter and international law, persistently promote dialogue, build trust, and enhance solidarity and understanding among peoples.
Sixth, contribute more actively and proactively with the international community to solve global challenges, such as climate change, energy security, water security, terrorism and transnational crime.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that in its overall foreign policy, Vietnam focuses on developing friendly and cooperative relations with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, in which the good relations between Vietnam and Dominica are an important bridge between the two regions of ASEAN, Latin America and the Caribbean. In particular, the Vietnam-Dominican Republic relationship is opening up great prospects for cooperation in all fields, especially when the two countries are preparing to celebrate the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2025, becoming a typical example of South-South cooperation and between the two regions of Southeast Asia and Latin America.
The Prime Minister said that Vietnam and the Dominican Republic are facing great opportunities to take advantage of the existing potential in bilateral relations, aiming for a higher level of relations, for the practical interests of the people of the two countries, for the cause of peace, national independence, democracy and social progress in the two regions and in the world; he believes that the Vietnam-Dominican Republic relationship will increasingly bear fruit.
Previously, at the meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister of the Dominican Republic Jose Julio Gomez and Rector of the Institute for Higher Diplomacy and Consular Training Jose Rafeal Espaillat, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh introduced basic information about Vietnam's foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralization and diversification and affirmed his support for cooperation between the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and the Dominican Republic's Institute for Higher Diplomatic and Consular Training, especially in the fields of academics, policy discussions, training, student exchanges, etc.
Thanking Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh for visiting and speaking at the school, Deputy Foreign Minister Jose Julio Gomez and Rector of the Institute for Diplomatic and Consular Training Jose Rafeal Espaillat expressed their admiration and congratulated Vietnam on its foreign affairs achievements in recent years. They assessed that the two countries' foreign policies have many similarities, both aiming to maintain a stable and favorable environment to serve the country's development.
On that basis, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Rector of the Dominican Republic's Institute of Diplomatic and Consular Training proposed to effectively implement the Political Consultation mechanism between the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs as well as the Memorandum of Understanding recently signed between the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and the Dominican Republic's Institute of Higher Education for Diplomatic and Consular Training, as a premise for the two sides to strengthen cooperation between the two research and training institutions in the field of foreign affairs./.
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![[Photo] Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chairs Government Conference with localities on economic growth](https://vstatic.vietnam.vn/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/2/21/f34583484f2643a2a2b72168a0d64baa)
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