The selection of Vietnam as the host of the second DPRK-USA summit has significant meanings, held Abdel-Moneim Said, chairman of the board, CEO and director of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS) in his article run by Egypt’s Al-Ahram Weekly.

In the article, the author said that to his generation, Vietnam was about the Vietnamese struggle against the Americans, the epic of a small Third World country fighting the world’s superpower.

More than four decades have passed since then. Today, Vietnam, and its symbolic capital Hanoi, is once again headline news, wrote the article, stressing that Vietnam has changed completely.

The author noted that in 1986, Vietnam adopted economic reforms, shifted to a market economy and encouraged foreign investment. In the framework of the Doi Moi (renewal) programme, as it was called, new laws and regulations were introduced to deregulate the economy and enable market forces to become the prime determinant of prices and production.

In 2000, the stock exchange was established. This inspired a new trend in Western and Asian writings which hailed “modern Vietnam”, the “Paris of the East”, the “Vietnamese ascendancy”, the “Vietnamese dragon” and the “Vietnamese model” and stressed the need to study this model in order to understand how such a poor country that had been economically shattered from intermittent wars succeeded in becoming an emergent regional power and a prime example of the ability to transcend the past, an ability that is associated with some important aspects of Vietnamese culture such as a strong work ethic, a spirit of discipline and an emphasis on education. 

It may be worthwhile to return to the “Vietnamese experience” another time, but our point, here, is that Hanoi as a choice of venue reflects the horizons of the forthcoming talks, Abdel-Moneim Said wrote.

Meanwhile, The Egyptian Gazgette newspaper of Egypt assessed that Vietnam plays the role of more than a neutral and convenient destination for the summit. To developing countries, including the DPRK, the Southeast Asian nation is a model in economic reform, it said.

Noting that the per capita income of Vietnam increased from 95 USD per year in 1990 to 2,342 USD in 2017, the paper underlined that Vietnam has shown the world that every poor economy can reduce poverty towards industrialization through the application and combination of policies in a proper way.

At the same time, Egyptian analysts explained that the US and DPRK leaders chose Hanoi for their second meeting as Hanoi is a safe place that meets all necessary diplomatic conditions for the success of the summit which is expected to result in breakthroughs in the relationship between Washing ton and Pyongyang.

Czech media hails Vietnam’s role in organizing 2nd DPRK-USA Summit

The Czech media has given wide coverage of the upcoming second DPRK-USA Summit, with praises for Vietnam’s role in organizing the event, which is slated to take place in Vietnam's capital Hanoi on February 27 and 28.

Major news outlet such as the Czech News Agency (CTK), the Blesk newspaper, the iDnes.cz and Novinky.cz news websites noted that the selection of the venue for the summit was very important which must be acceptable for both sides.

According to the media, Prague was also among venue options for the first DPRK-USA summit in June 2018, but finally Singapore was chosen. One of the important reasons that the US and the DPRK selected Hanoi for the second summit was the good relationship that Vietnam has with both Washington and Pyongyang, and both the DPRK and the US have their embassies in Hanoi.  

The organization of the summit has great meanings for Vietnam, according to Alex Svamberk, a journalist and analyst of international affairs.  He said the attention to Vietnam has never been greater than at present in the Czech Republic.

He said the role and position of Vietnam have become known worldwide as the meeting between the DPRK leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump attracts special international attention. The organization of the meeting proves that Vietnam is capable of making active contributions to major international issues, of which the Korean peninsula is among the most complicated and prolonged ones.

Another journalist, Roman Janouch, share the view that Vietnam has been known as a safe destination with strong economic growth, and the country’s position on the international arena has been enhanced, particularly by the successful organization of several major international events such as the APEC summit week in 2017.

VNA