Civilian training programme indian technical economic cooperation

Indian Ambassador Pranay Verma speaks at the India-Vietnam webinar on diabetes management held March 27 in Ho Chi Minh City

This was stressed at a webinar titled “India-Vietnam Thematic Partnership On Diabetes” organised on March 27 in Ho Chi Minh City by the Consulate General of India in collaboration with the Ho Chi Minh City Medical Association (HMA).

The webinar was attended by 8 experts and more than 1,000 doctors from both countries.

At the webinar, professors and experts from India and Vietnam presented information on latest developments related to diabetes in Asia, including: the early onset of Type 2 Diabetes; fatty liver disease in diabetic patients; risk factors and clinical profile of Asian diabetic patient with a focus on the similarities between Vietnamese and Indian patients; “Young diabetics – the same?”; and “Are Asian diabetics different from Caucasian diabetics?”.

A Vietnamese doctor provided insights into the Diabetic Foot Program, reflecting the endeavours of the specialists in Vietnam to coordinate a multidisciplinary action to care for this common complication and improve its prognosis.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Dung, President of Ho Chi Minh City Medical Association, thanked the Consulate General of India in Ho Chi Minh City for co-organizing the webinar. She said it was timely initiative, given that both countries were suffering from increasing burdens related to diabetes.

Indian ambassador to Vietnam Pranay Verma said that the seminar would be a “good discussion on an important disease which not only has much prevalence both in India and Vietnam, but also one whose numbers are increasing day by day due to changes in our lifestyles.

“To talk about diabetes prevalence in India, our capital New Delhi is considered the ‘Diabetes Capital’ of the world. Our prevalence of diabetes is about 11.8% and just like in Vietnam, the highest prevalence is in the 70-79 age group,” he said.

Mr. Verma continued: “In India, we have taken steps through medical advancement, health awareness and the National Diabetes Control Programme to bring down the prevalence of Diabetes.

“Today, at the forum, the doctors from India are quite renowned in the field of diabetes. I am also aware that all the doctors have contributed large numbers of research articles to the International Diabetes Society. The doctors from Vietnam are also quite competent in their own fields.”

The webinar is expected to promote strong cooperation between the medical fraternity of both countries and also explore training in advanced medical and surgical care in India for doctors/nurses/ paramedical staff from Vietnam.

My Phung

The statement was made by UP Maputo Rector Prof. Jorge Ferrão during his meeting with Vietnamese Ambassador to Mozambique Le Huy Hoang on April 7.

He spoke highly of the cooperative results between UP Maputo and Vietnamese universities over recent years, including Portuguese language training for many Vietnamese students at his university.

As Vietnam and Mozambique are stepping up their internationalisation strategy in education, Jorge Ferrão suggested the two sides promote direct collaboration between their universities, enhance the exchange of lecturers and students, and intensify the sharing of experience, particularly in terms of the application of digital technology in teaching.

General view of the meeting. (Photo: Vietnamese Embassy in Mozambique)

He encouraged Vietnamese universities and businesses to actively participate in UP Maputo’s vocational training, as well as to join with sponsors to help UP Maputo implement technical projects on education.

For his part, Ambassador Hoang welcomed the active and proactive initiatives of UP Maputo in fostering educational cooperation between Vietnam and Mozambique, and lauded the university’s provision of scholarships to Vietnamese students in the past few years.

He said that many Vietnamese graduates from UP Maputo have contributed to the bilateral friendship and economic cooperation between the two nations.

Vietnamese universities attach importance to cooperation with their Mozambican partners, including UP Maputo, Hoang affirmed, proposing the university and other educational institutions of Mozambique provide more scholarships for Vietnamese students.

The programme aims to facilitate and support enterprises to transfer, innovate and perfect technologies, create high quality products with high added value; promote the transfer of technologies for agricultural development in rural and mountainous areas and regions; and train scientific and technological human resources for technology transfer, renewal and improvement.

The specific target is that by 2025, the number of enterprises implementing technology innovation will increase by an average of 15% per year; and 100% of enterprises producing key products will directly participate in the programme to form research and development organisations. There are 3-5 key product industries that own or create advanced technologies in the value chain to produce products with high added value and competitiveness in the market.

It also aims to increase labour productivity on the basis of technological innovation, especially in industries and fields of high added value, high export value and high technology use. Enterprises directly participating in the programme are expected to have labour productivity at least 1.5 times higher than their labour productivity without technological innovation.

Each economic region should form at least one typical technology transfer application research model, suitable to the specific conditions of the locality, for replication.

The programme’s tasks and solutions are to improve legal institutions and promote technology innovation activities; formulating and implementing a roadmap to improve national technological capacity; researching and mastering advanced technologies in the production of keyproducts and products with high added value in the value chain and high competitiveness in the market; supporting small and medium enterprises in technological innovation; stepping up support for technology innovation activities in rural and mountainous regions facing difficult and extremely difficult socio-economic conditions; increasing financial resources for implementing the programme; and promoting international cooperation.

Vietnamplus

Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son (centre) chairs the UNSC open debate on April 8 (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi – Vietnam, as the rotating President of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for April, held a ministerial open debate on April 8, focusing on “Mine action and sustaining peace: Stronger partnerships for better delivery”.

The event, held both virtually and in person under the chair of Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, was attended by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, along with ministers, deputy ministers, ambassadors, and heads of missions of the UNSC member states.

Speakers at the debate included Director of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining Stefano Toscano, UNDP Goodwill Ambassador actress Yeoh Choo-Kheng, Manager of Project RENEW All-Women Demining Team in Vietnam Nguyen Thi Dieu Linh, and UN Global Advocate for the Elimination of Mines and Explosive Hazards actor Daniel Craig.

It also saw the presence of officials from Vietnamese ministries, sectors, and localities hit hard by war-left explosives, along with representatives of the embassies of UNSC member states, UN organisations, and domestic and international non-governmental organisations working on unexploded ordnance (UXO) settlement.

Speaking at the debate, participants highly valued Vietnam’s initiative to organise the event. They voiced support for the humanitarian purpose of limiting the use of bombs and landmines around the world and emphasised UXO consequences in conflict zones as well as areas that used to undergo conflicts. They also advocated national and international efforts to overcome UXO consequences, assist victims, and stabilise the situation for reconstruction and socio-economic development.

Participants highlighted the importance of international cooperation in addressing UXO and underlined the need to enhance cohesion and coordination within the UN system, including the UNSC, so as to contribute more to UXO settlement efforts by the UN and relevant countries.

In his remarks, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son stressed that sustainable peace is secured only when the consequences of wars and conflicts, including UXO consequences, are resolved.

He held that this issue needs more attention in the UNSC agenda and shared Vietnam’s experience in this regard, including close attention from all-level leaders; investment in capacity building; the close coordination among ministries, sectors, localities, and non-governmental organisations; along with the participation of people of all social strata, especially women.

Programmes and policies need to centre on people while cooperation with international partners should be enhanced, particularly via the settlement of UXO consequences and the healing of the wounds of war, according to the official.

The minister called for closer cooperation among countries to achieve more sustainable outcomes in mine action, via providing financial and technical assistance, improving capacity and awareness, and sharing experience with affected countries.

He suggested the UN and particularly the UNSC should step up measures to ensure safety for peacekeepers, protect civilians, and promote sustainable peace.

On this occasion, the UNSC adopted its first presidential statement, proposed by Vietnam, on mine action.

The statement underlined the connection between UXO settlement and sustainable peace, stability, and development, affirming the UNSC’s commitment and highlighting the necessity for international cooperation in mine action.

It also mentioned new important issues like impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, augmenting support for affected countries, establishing specialised mine action units at UN peacekeeping missions, and taking into account special needs of women and children during the performance of related tasks.

VNA

The event, held both virtually and in person under the chair of Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, was attended by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres along with ministers, deputy ministers, ambassadors, and heads of missions of the UNSC member states.

Speakers at the debate included Director of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining Stefano Toscano, UNDP Goodwill Ambassador actress Yeoh Choo-Kheng, Manager of Project RENEW All-Women Demining Team in Vietnam Nguyen Thi Dieu Linh, and UN Global Advocate for the Elimination of Mines and Explosive Hazards and actor Daniel Craig.

It also saw the presence of officials from Vietnamese ministries, sectors, and localities hit hard by war-left explosives, along with representatives of the embassies of UNSC member states, UN organisations, and domestic and international non-governmental organisations working on unexploded ordnance (UXO) settlement.

Speaking at the debate, participants highly valued Vietnam’s initiative to organise the event. They voiced support for the humanitarian purpose of limiting the use of bombs and landmines around the world and emphasised the consequences of UXOs in conflict zones as well as areas that previously experienced conflicts. They also advocated national and international efforts to overcome UXO consequences, assist victims, and stabilise the situation for reconstruction and socio-economic development.

Participants highlighted the importance of international cooperation in addressing UXOs and underlined the need to enhance cohesion and coordination within the UN system, including the UNSC, so as to contribute more to UXO settlement efforts by the UN and relevant countries.

In his remarks, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son stressed that sustainable peace is secured only when the consequences of wars and conflicts, including the consequences of UXOs, are resolved.

He held that this issue needs more attention in the UNSC agenda and shared Vietnam’s experience in this regard, including close attention from all-level leaders; investment in capacity building; the close coordination among ministries, sectors, localities, and non-governmental organisations; along with the participation of people of all social strata, especially women.

Programmes and policies need to centre on people while cooperation with international partners should be enhanced, particularly via the settlement of UXO consequences and the healing of the wounds of war, according to the official.

The minister called for closer cooperation among countries to achieve greater sustainable outcomes in mine action, via providing financial and technical assistance, improving capacity and awareness, and sharing experience with affected countries.

He suggested that the UN and particularly the UNSC should step up measures to ensure safety for peacekeepers, protect civilians, and promote sustainable peace.

On the occasion, the UNSC adopted its first presidential statement, proposed by Vietnam, on mine action.

The statement underlined the connection between UXO settlement and sustainable peace, stability, and development, affirming the UNSC’s commitment and highlighting the necessity for international cooperation in mine action.

It also mentioned new important issues like impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, augmenting support for affected countries, establishing specialised mine action units at UN peacekeeping missions, and taking into account special needs of women and children during the performance of related tasks.