Vietnam and Russia Explore Strengthening Comprehensive Strategic Partnership: Vietnam News (Feb. 18)

Vietnam News Today (Feb. 18) notable headlines

• Vietnam attends 46th session of IFAD Governing Council
• Vietnam, Russia eye bolstering comprehensive strategic partnership
• Vietnam ranks 12th among Asia’s most powerful countries
• Paris Peace Accords and its impacts on Vietnam – US ties
• Vietnam’s search and rescue team hailed in Turkey
• Agricultural sector aims for $25 billion in FDI by 2030
• Belgian lower house leader affirms support for stronger ties with Vietnam
• Vietnamese scientists win China-ASEAN innovation contest
• Huge upside for Vietnam’s organic products in Europe

Vietnam attends 46th session of IFAD Governing Council

Ambassador Duong Hai Hung, the nation’s permanent representative at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), attended the 46th session of the IFAD Governing Council in Rome from February 14 to February 15.

The session focused on “Accelerating Action for Food Security” amid the world facing the largest food crisis in modern history as progress stalls on achieving zero hunger.

The fund has therefore called for urgent investment to be made in transforming food systems. As the world’s fund for food and agriculture, it plays an innovative and vital role in accelerating action to ensure food security by supporting small-scale food producers.

Through effective co-operation over the past four decades, the IFDA has actively supported poverty reduction and rural development in the nation, especially in mountainous areas and those faced by extremely difficult circumstances, cited VOV.

It is in the process of carrying out numerous projects on smart agriculture and climate change response in the country.

In reply, the nation has also contributed to common activities of the fund through financial contributions, technical support, and three-party and south-south co-operation, as well as activities undertaken by the permanent representative.

Vietnam, Russia eye bolstering comprehensive strategic partnership

Secretary of the Party Central Committee and President of Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee Do Van Chien on February 17 received a delegation of the Russian Federal Assembly’s Federation Council led by its First Deputy Speaker Andrey Yatskin.

Yatskin, who is also head of the council’s group for cooperation with the Vietnamese National Assembly (NA), is on a working visit to Vietnam.

During the meeting, Chien said Vietnam will forever remember the great support from Russia across different periods of time, especially the most difficult eras in Vietnam’s history.

Vietnam hopes that the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries will be further promoted and achieve more good results, he added.

The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) strongly supports the close and friendly cooperation in many aspects between the two nations’ legislatures, and the party will create the most favorable conditions for the two sides to fulfill their commitments and cooperation agreements, Chien affirmed.

He expressed his belief that both nations will have effective solutions to solve difficulties and meet each side’s wishes.

Vietnam ranks 12th among Asia’s most powerful countries

Vietnam has been ranked 12th out of 26 countries in terms of comprehensive power in Asia, achieving an overall score of 17.5 out of 100, Lowy Institute outlined in its recent report.

According to details in the report, Vietnam represents a middle power in Asia, whilst the country lost 0.8 points in terms of its overall power compared to 2021.

Lowy Institute noted that the country performed best in the diplomatic influence measure, ranking ninth, with this being a result of its proactive diplomatic outreach with a diverse set of partners.

Most notably, resilience remains the country’s weakest measure, with the nation ranking 19th, partially reflecting its contested maritime boundaries in the East Sea, Lowy stated.

Furthermore, institute commented that the country’s most significant declines in 2022 were in terms of the defence networks measure, where the country dropped down to 15th.

“Vietnam exerts more influence in the region than expected given its available resources, as indicated by the country’s positive power gap score, which improved in 2022,” it noted.

Vietnam does most of its trade with China, the United States, the Republic of Korea, the EU, and Japan. In addition, Laos, Cambodia, the Republic of Korea, China, and Thailand were deemed to be the five countries most reliant on trade with the nation.

Paris Peace Accords and its impacts on Vietnam – US ties

On February 16, a webinar was held by the US Institute of Peace (USIP) and the Vietnamese Embassy in the US to look into impacts of the Paris Peace Accords, signed 50 years ago, on the two countries’ relations today.

The event attracted nearly 200 guests who were scholars, historians, and representatives of some organizations and associations.

Addressing the webinar’s main session, Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Quoc Dung emphasized that the Paris Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam was a result of the sacrifice by millions of Vietnamese people, their strong desire for peace, independence, and national reunification, as well as the art of negotiation and the opportunity-seizing ability of many excellent diplomats from the parties concerned.

Vietnam’s search and rescue team hailed in Turkey

Search and rescue teams from countries supporting Turkey have hailed their counterparts from the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) in the effort following the devastating earthquake.

Talking with Vietnam News Agency in Turkey on February 17, Australia’s representative of the search and rescue force and commander of the 10th rescue coordination centre Greg Rankin said countries have been working closely and effectively with the Turkish government and army.

With cooperation through the United Nations, teams were given specific tasks and strive together, thereby greatly contributing to disaster response coordination, he said.

He also lauded countries, including Vietnam, for sending search and rescue groups to Turkey as invaluable support.