On the afternoon of January 17 (local time), in Davos, Switzerland, on the occasion of attending the WEF Davos 2024 Conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had meetings with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) Jose Manuel Barroso, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Daren Tang, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedro Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Gilbert F. Houngbo, and High Representative for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalization of the African Union (AU) Commission Amani Abou Zeid.
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| Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh meets with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet. (Source: VNA) |
At the meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, the two Prime Ministers were pleased to meet again after Prime Minister Hun Manet's extremely successful visit to Vietnam in December 2023. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh shared that Vietnam has just solemnly celebrated the 45th anniversary of the victory in the war to protect the southwestern border and together with the Cambodian army and people, defeated the genocidal regime, which is an opportunity to step up propaganda to the people of the two countries, especially the younger generation, about the historical tradition of solidarity and mutual support between the two peoples.
The two Prime Ministers hope that transport connections between the two countries will be enhanced, including highway connections, especially connecting Phnom Penh with Ho Chi Minh City; and coordinating with Laos to promote the "One Journey, Three Destinations" tourism packages. The Culture Ministers of the three countries of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam will meet and discuss specific measures for cultural and tourism cooperation.
The two sides also agreed that the settlement of areas belonging to 16% of the border that have not yet completed demarcation and marker planting will continue to be promoted.
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| Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh meets with Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico. (Source: VNA) |
At the meeting with Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation with Slovakia; thanked the Government and people of Slovakia for their support to Vietnam over the past 70 years, in which cooperation in the field of education and training is a bright spot. Slovakia has helped Vietnam train many officials, many of whom now hold key positions in the Vietnamese Government.
The Prime Minister once again expressed his sincere thanks to the Government and people of Slovakia for providing 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Vietnam at a time when vaccine access was difficult, contributing to helping Vietnam quickly overcome the Covid-19 pandemic and open up and recover the economy.
The Slovak Prime Minister expressed his pleasure at meeting Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh; said he always remembered the good memories of his visit to Vietnam; and thanked the Vietnamese Government and people for their warm and respectful welcome.
Regarding economic and trade cooperation, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh thanked Slovakia for supporting and promoting the negotiation and signing of the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the ratification of the Vietnam-EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA).
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed his support and will create favorable conditions for Slovakian enterprises to invest and do business in Vietnam; expressed his hope that Slovakia will urge the European Commission (EC) to soon remove the “yellow card” (IUU) for Vietnamese seafood.
Regarding the direction of cooperation in the coming time, the two sides agreed to closely coordinate to ensure the success of high-level visits; strengthen cooperation in various fields in the spirit of promoting strengths to complement and support each other and help each other overcome limitations; and enhance educational cooperation and student exchange between the two countries.
The two sides agreed to closely coordinate in resolving regional and global issues, and support each other at multilateral cooperation mechanisms and forums such as the United Nations, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and the cooperation mechanism between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the EU.
The Prime Minister of Slovakia hopes that Vietnam will waive visa requirements for Slovakian citizens to further facilitate tourism and business and investment activities of enterprises of the two countries.
Thanking the Slovak Government for recognizing the Vietnamese community in Slovakia as an ethnic minority, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hopes that Slovakian authorities at all levels will continue to pay attention and create more favorable conditions for the Vietnamese community to have a stable life, integrate well into the locality, contribute to the local development and promote friendship between the people of the two countries.
On this occasion, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh respectfully invited the Prime Minister of Slovakia to pay an official visit to Vietnam soon. The Prime Minister of Slovakia also respectfully invited Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to visit Slovakia at an appropriate time.
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| Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh meets with GAVI President Jose Manuel Barroso. (Source: VNA) |
At the meeting with GAVI President Jose Manuel Barroso, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh thanked GAVI for its valuable support to Vietnam during the most difficult period of the Covid-19 pandemic; highly appreciated the role of GAVI, international organizations such as WHO and Mr. Barroso himself in promoting more equitable vaccine distribution globally, especially in developing countries during the pandemic.
The Prime Minister thanked GAVI for its close and effective cooperation with the health sector, through multi-million-dollar support projects to deploy new vaccines in the Expanded Immunization Program for Vietnamese children; activities towards eliminating measles and rubella; improving vaccination quality; supporting cold chains for vaccine preservation, etc.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked GAVI to continue supporting Vietnam with vaccines to prevent epidemics, build a centralized vaccine trading center at the Ministry of Health, and transfer mRNA technology to Vietnam; affirming that Vietnam is ready to support and exchange vaccines with GAVI, making access to vaccines easier globally.
GAVI President Jose Manuel Barroso congratulated Vietnam on successfully implementing its vaccine strategy, being one of the most successful countries in achieving community immunity and controlling the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr. Barroso said that GAVI will increase support for Vietnam in accessing vaccines to prevent epidemics, especially in Vietnam's Expanded Immunization Program; support Vietnam in developing strategies, planning and implementing the transfer of mRNA vaccine technology to develop and produce vaccines and biological products in Vietnam; help connect reputable foreign experts, organizations and businesses that are ready to cooperate, facilitate the transfer of technology and skills in producing biological products and vaccines to Vietnam.
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| Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh meets with WIPO Director General Daren Tang. (Source: VNA) |
Meeting with WIPO Director General Daren Tang, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that Vietnam always supports and appreciates the role of WIPO in shaping policies, services and promoting cooperation in the field of intellectual property and innovation to bring knowledge into socio-economic development; thanked WIPO for supporting Vietnam over the years, most recently in building and implementing Vietnam's National Intellectual Property Strategy to 2030.
The Prime Minister affirmed that intellectual property protection is a major global issue that needs to be promoted and is the foundation for promoting innovation and science and technology; he hoped that WIPO would continue to advise and contribute ideas so that Vietnam can do better in protecting intellectual property.
Recognizing Vietnam as a model for focusing on intellectual property protection and innovation, the WIPO Director General highly appreciated the innovative spirit of the Vietnamese youth and affirmed his readiness to continue supporting Vietnam in these areas. WIPO affirmed its readiness to support Vietnam regarding intellectual property issues in the field of traditional culture.
The Prime Minister asked WIPO to continue supporting Vietnam in implementing the National Intellectual Property Strategy to 2030 and in further improving the local innovation index. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also shared that Vietnam will soon develop a program to promote the value of intellectual property protection and hopes WIPO will support in this regard. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh respectfully invited the WIPO Director General to visit Vietnam soon to further promote cooperation between the two sides.
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| Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh receives WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. (Source: VNA) |
At the meeting with WHO Director-General Tedro Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed his deep gratitude to WHO, international organizations and the international community, and Mr. Ghebreyesus himself for their invaluable support to Vietnam during the most difficult times of the Covid-19 pandemic, which contributed significantly to Vietnam's control of the pandemic with nearly 260 million vaccine doses. Thanks to this support, Vietnam has soon controlled the pandemic, reopened and restored its socio-economic situation.
The Prime Minister stressed that the Covid-19 pandemic shows the importance of the whole world and each country improving its capacity to respond to epidemics.
In that spirit, the Prime Minister called on countries to unite internationally, promote multilateralism, and take a global, all-people approach to enhance the capacity to respond to global issues, including pandemics. In this process, Vietnam supports the leading role of the United Nations (UN), especially the WHO.
The WHO Director-General highly appreciated Vietnam's efforts in preventing and combating the Covid-19 pandemic, affirming that Vietnam's own efforts are the decisive factor in the success of the Covid-19 pandemic prevention and control campaign. Vietnam has set out a clear strategy, mobilized the cooperation of the people, and committed to the implementation of epidemic prevention and control.
The WHO Director-General said he is ready to continue supporting Vietnam in disease prevention and technology transfer in the health sector; and asked Vietnam to support the negotiation of the Agreement on Epidemics towards completion by May 2024.
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| Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh meets ILO Director General Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo. (Source: VNA) |
Meeting with ILO Director-General Gilbert F. Houngbo, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highly appreciated the ILO's role in promoting social justice and protecting workers' rights as well as addressing current issues of social inequality and unemployment globally; affirming that Vietnam always attaches importance to its cooperative relationship with the ILO.
In the coming time, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked the ILO to support Vietnam in handling issues related to labor affected by energy transition, training and retraining workers, to ensure the interests of workers affected by green and digital transformation.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that Vietnam always supports and is one of the signatories to many ILO conventions. Regarding ILO and UN initiatives such as the Global Alliance for Social Justice and the Framework for Promoting Employment and Social Protection for a Just Transition, Vietnam supports and requests the ILO to continue assisting Vietnam in studying and participating in these initiatives.
The ILO Director General expressed his satisfaction with the Vietnamese Government's active participation and contribution to the issue of labor and employment; always remembering the good impressions of the country and people of Vietnam during his previous visit to Vietnam.
The two sides agreed to continue close coordination in the coming time; agreed on the need to promote international solidarity, multilateral cooperation and the role of international organizations in the current unpredictable world situation.
At the meeting with the AU Commission's High Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalization, Ms. Amani Abou Zeid, the Prime Minister highly appreciated the AU's role in the political, security, economic and social life of Africa, and supported the AU to increasingly have an important voice and position in regional and international forums.
On this occasion, the Prime Minister congratulated the AU on officially becoming a member of the Group of 20 leading developed and emerging economies (G20).
The Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam attaches importance to traditional and friendly relations and wishes to strengthen cooperation with African countries, especially in agriculture and trade, in which the two sides promote the export of key products to each other. As an observer of the AU (December 2023), Vietnam wishes to strengthen cooperation with the AU.
Ms. Amani Abou Zeid highly appreciated and considered Vietnam a model of transformation, wishing to increase the exchange and sharing of experiences in economic transformation; agreed with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's proposals on promoting cooperation, saying that tourism is a potential field that both sides need to promote in the coming time.
On this occasion, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh respectfully invited Ms. Amani Abou Zeid and AU leaders to visit Vietnam. Ms. Amani Abou Zeid hopes to visit Vietnam soon to witness Vietnam's development and further promote cooperation between the two sides.
Also on the afternoon of January 17, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had brief meetings with Timor Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão, Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Dareen Bogdan-Martin, and Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Amy Pope to promote cooperation between Vietnam and other countries and international organizations.
On the afternoon of January 18, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his wife, along with a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, successfully concluded their working trip to attend the WEF Davos 2024 Conference; left Davos, and headed to Hungary for an official visit.
(according to VNA)
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