Int’l conference talks relations between Vietnam, foreign NGOs

Hanoi (VNA) – An international conference was opened in Hanoi on December 12 to look into cooperation between Vietnam and foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) since 2014 and discuss cooperation priorities for 2020-2025.

Appreciating foreign NGOs’ assistance for and friendship with the Vietnamese people, Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son said the cooperation has resulted in encouraging achievements, noting aside from contributing to local poverty reduction and sustainable development, foreign NGOs have also greatly helped promote relations between Vietnam and countries around the world.

He added that the conference, the fourth of its kind held so far, aims to assess the cooperation between Vietnam and foreign NGOs since the third event took place in 2013 and set up orientations for enhancing their ties in the years to come.

The official expressed his hope that participants will make detailed policy proposals to help create breakthroughs in the country’s partnerships with the organisations and bring these relations to a new development stage.

Evaluating foreign NGOs’ role in local development, Ambassador Nguyen Phuong Nga, President of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations, attributed the country’s enormous poverty reduction and socio-economic development attainments partly to the substantial assistance from friends around the world, including foreign NGOs.

Cooperation with foreign NGOs is an important field in external relations, including people-to-people diplomacy, of Vietnam, she said, adding that apart from effective and practical programmes and projects, foreign NGOs have also given the country valuable experiences in terms of governance and personnel training and helped strengthen its collaboration and solidarity with other nations.

Nga voiced her hope that Vietnam will continue receiving strong support from other countries, international organisations, foreign NGOs and development partners for its reform, integration and sustainable development efforts.

The two-day conference features six seminars focusing on partnerships between Vietnam and foreign NGOs in several prioritised areas, namely education and training; health care; cooperation between foreign businesses and NGOs for sustainable development; the settlement of social issues and war consequences; the environment, climate change response, natural disaster prevention and mitigation, and emergency rescue; along with poverty elimination and socio-economic development./.