Vice President ĐặngThị NgọcThịnh affirmed women’s important role in national development in a speech delivered at the opening ceremony of the 26th Global Summit of Women in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday.

Themed Women: Building an Inclusive Economy in the Digital Age, the three-day event brought together nearly 1,000 delegates.

Though women are improving their positions, the number of women in management and leadership roles around the world remains low, around 24 per cent of the total, according to Thịnh.

She talked about opportunities and challenges brought about by the digital age for women, especially for female entrepreneurs in global commercialisation.

Female entrepreneurs should exert more efforts to improve themselves and be more creative, Thịnh suggested.

She also briefed participants on Việt Nam’s achievements on gender equality, as well as the country’s policies to raise the positions of women and encourage them to involve themselves in all fields.

Women should improve their knowledge and management and leadership capacity, as well as actively participating in national target programmes, especially those dedicated to women and girls, in order to contribute to implementing sustainable development goals, she added.

VN treasures relations with Poland

Việt Nam attaches importance to its time-honoured friendship and co-operation with Poland, said Thịnh at her meeting with Polish Prime Minister BeataSzydlo in Warsaw on the same day.

She thanked Poland for its preferential credit worth 250 million euros (US$226 million) for Việt Nam, expressing hope that the two countries will soon sign a framework agreement on financial co-operation in credit, so that specific projects can be implemented as soon as possible.

On the basis of the two countries’ fine traditional friendship, and as an active member of the EU, Poland will continue supporting the strengthening of Vietnam-EU co-operation and partnership, PM Szydlo said.

Both sides expressed their satisfaction with the growth of bilateral co-operation in numerous fields, with two-way trade reaching $760 million in 2015.

The two countries agreed to expand co-operation in agriculture, defence, health, pharmaceuticals, tourism, and culture.

The Polish leader emphasised the contributions of the Vietnamese community in Poland to the host country’s development.

She also expressed her view that the East Sea disputes must be settled by peaceful means on the basis of international law.

VNS