Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s working trips to France and the United Nations, especially his speech at the UN General Assembly, have left a fine impression on the international community.

His historic visit to France marked a milestone in bilateral relations when both countries released a joint statement on establishing the strategic partnership.

The partnership built on strategic trust will help Vietnam and France strengthen multifaceted cooperation, particularly in the prioritised areas of politics-diplomacy, security-national defence, economics-trade-investment, development cooperation, culture, education-training, scientific research, and environmental protection.

After France, PM Dung flew to the United States for the general debate of the 68th UN General Assembly where he delivered a keynote speech, expressing humankind’s desire to live in a world free from war and hunger.

According to Dung, war, peace, development, hunger and poverty are burning global issues, requiring all countries to have strategic trust and join hands to address them.

He voiced Vietnam’s support for all global peace initiatives and commitment to joining peace keeping operations as a responsible member of the UN.

Ricardo de Guimaraes Pinto, representative of UNESCO Liaison Office in New York, echoed Dung’s view saying the world has achieved tremendous achievements in economic and scientific development over the past decades, but it has yet to eradicate poverty and hunger, and end wars and conflicts.

In his speech, Dung illustrated the image of Vietnam devastated during wartime and how hard Vietnamese people gained independence and freedom.

Experiencing the devastation of war, Vietnamese people are aware of the value of peace, and Dung’s appeal for global peace is highly appreciated, Pinto said

Within less than 24 hours in the US, PM Dung travelled between New York and Washington DC to meet leaders of the two world’s largest financial institutions – the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, the UN and its agencies, senior US officials and government leaders of other countries.

The WB, IMF, UN, US and other countries spoke highly of Vietnam’s achievements in socio-economic development, poverty reduction, Millennium Development Goal (MDG) realisation, as well as its contributions to the international community.

They all pledged to work closely together with Vietnam to successfully implement MDGs.

Christine Lagarde said she was impressed by Dung’s economic reform commitment and she expressed optimism about the recovery of the Vietnamese economy.

She said the IMF values Vietnam’s commitment to ensuring social security, reducing poverty and stabilising the macroeconomy through reinforcing finance, applying a strong monetary policy, and restructuring the banking system and the State-owned enterprise sector.

With the economic restructuring plan put in place, Vietnam will certainly secure macroeconomic stability, growing by 5% and beyond in the coming years, she said.

During a dialogue with leading US businesses, PM Dung reaffirmed Vietnam’s determination to accelerate economic reform and create a transparent environment for foreign businesses, including those from the US.

Josette Sheeran, President and CEO of Asia Society – a global non-profit organisation to strengthen relations between the US and Asian countries, expressed her appreciation of Dung’s message to the US business community that Vietnam has a burning ambition to develop its economy and integrate into the world.

The PM pointed out immediate difficulties facing Vietnam and made clear an action plan to address domestic challenges, showing Vietnam’s strong commitment to economic reform.

He also wanted the Vietnamese economy to be highly competitive globally and to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement to generate more employment opportunities for people.

PM Dung’s clear and strong message shows Vietnam’s desire to be a responsible member of the international community and a reliable investment destination of the global business circles.

Prime Minister answers foreign media

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung answered questions by reporters from Bloomberg, ITAR-TASS, Kyodo and Yonhap on the sideline of the ongoing general debate of the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Vietnam and the United States are intensifying their bilateral relations and cooperation, for the sake of peace, friendship, mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit and common development, Dung said.

On the Vietnam human rights bill said to be passed by the US Senate in November, the PM said if passed, the document will mark a setback in bilateral relations as it does not correctly reflect the reality in Vietnam , but is an interference and imposition of political will on another country. As a civilised country, the United States should not do so, he said.

He also said that the power of China is beneficial to the region and the world as a whole on condition that China must also respect independence and sovereignty of the other countries, and respect international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Regarding the disputes in the East Sea , PM Dung said currently there are differences between China and a number of ASEAN member countries on sovereignty, but they have been discussed by China and ASEAN, and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) has been issued.

However, while implementing it, countries have come to realise that the document is insufficient to ensure peace and that it should be made more legally binding into the Code of Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (COC).

On Vietnam’s role in UN offices, PM Dung said as a member of the international organisation and once elected as a non-permanent member of its Security Council, Vietnam has been doing all it can to take an effective part in the peace and development missions of the UN.