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The Vietnamese delegation to the 19th ASEAN-China SOM DOC is led by Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung. Photo: VNA

Vietnam calls for serious implementation of DOC at ASEAN-China SOM

The 19th ASEAN-China Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) on the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) was held in China’s Chongqing city on June 7, in the framework of the special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

Addressing the meeting, Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung said that although the maintenance of peace, stability and security in the East Sea is a shared interest of ASEAN and China, there are still unilateral actions taking place that violate the legitimate rights of coastal states, escalating tensions, eroding trust, and going against the joint efforts of both sides.

He called on all parties to seriously implement the DOC and reach agreements in a spirit of goodwill, abide by international law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982, and create a favourable environment for negotiations and the building of a substantial and effective Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) suitable with international law and UNCLOS that receives widespread support, according to VOV.

Participants agreed that despite the impact of Covid-19, ASEAN and China have worked hard to implement cooperation activities within the framework of DOC implementation, including those on protecting the maritime environment and ensuring the humanitarian and equal treatment of fishermen.

They expressed concern over complicated developments in the East Sea recently, including unilateral moves that go against international law, erode trust, escalate tensions, and harm the cooperation process in implementing DOC and negotiations for the COC.

The officials continued to affirm the significance of maintaining peace and stability as well as respecting aviation and maritime freedom, security, and safety, and settling disputes in the East Sea through peaceful measures in line with international law and UNCLOS.

ASEAN and China pledged to continue implementing the DOC in a serious, friendly, and full and effective manner.

Vietnam, Australia legislators hold talks, look to double bilateral trade

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue had online talks with Australian House of Representatives Speaker Tony Smith on June 7 to promote the strategic partnership between the two countries and their legislative bodies.

Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue pushes for stronger ties between the legislative bodies of Vietnam and Australia during talks with House of Representatives Speaker Tony Smith. Photo: VNA

They both affirmed that the strategic partnership between the two countries has developed substantially in recent times. Despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the two sides have still maintained regular exchanges and contacts, including recent phone talks between Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison.

The two countries signed an action programme to implement their Strategic Partnership for 2020 – 2023. Notably, their two-way trade turnover reached US$8.3 billion last year, an increase of nearly 5% compared to 2019. Australia pledged its support for Vietnam in the 2021-2022 fiscal year, and increased investment in Vietnam’s agriculture, infrastructure and education, cited VOV.

In addition, the relations between the two countries’ legislative bodies have also developed well on the basis of the new phase cooperation agreement between the National Assembly of Vietnam and the Parliament of Australia both bilaterally and multilaterally.

NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue (left) and House of Representatives Speaker Tony Smith (right) during the phone talks on June 7. Photo: VNA

During the talks, the two leaders exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual concern. On the East Sea issue, the two sides affirmed their consistent view of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight in the waters, and peacefully settling disputes based on international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982).

Vietnamese lychees head for EU markets

The first batch of Hai Duong province’s Thanh Ha “thieu” lychees left Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on June 7 for the European Union (EU).

The export was conducted under the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). The fruit is scheduled to be available in the Czech Republic in a couple of days.

Next week, a batch of Bac Giang province’s Luc Ngan “thieu” lychees is expected to be shipped to the 27-member bloc, NhanDan reported.

Pacific Foods exports first batch of Thanh Ha lychees to EU. Photo: VNA

Vu Ba Phu, director of the Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the ministry has cooperated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in implementing many synchronous solutions from the 2021 crop year to find consumption markets, especially export markets.

Currently, tens of tonnes of lychees from Hai Duong and Bac Giang provinces are available on shelves at supermarket chains in Japan and Singapore and in EU countries in the next few days.

Vietnamese firms win bids for rice exports

Vietnamese firms continue to win bids for rice exports to the EU and the Republic of Korea (RoK) since the beginning of the year.

Pham Thai Binh, general director of the Trung An Company, said it won a bid to ship two batches of rice weighing over 22,000 tonnes to the RoK, which is scheduled for delivery in September and October.

Earlier, on April 19, the company signed a contract to export 11,263 tonnes to the RoK at a price of 584 USD per tonne. Delivery is due this month.

Harvesting rice. Photo: VNA

The RoK has a quota of importing over 50,000 tonnes of rice from Vietnam this year. Trung An alone has won bids for more than 33,000 tonnes, cited WVR.

Compared to the same period last year, the rice export value increased 16-17 percent while the volume has stayed the same. ST24 rice fetched up to 970-1,000 USD per ton when shipped to the EU.

With many free trade agreements having been signed, different types of high-quality Vietnamese rice have been shipped to the EU, the RoK, the Middle East, and regional countries such as Malaysia.

Jasmine and glutinous rice cultivation has increased since 2014, with prices rising in the Mekong Delta. In particular, demand for the IR50404 rice variety has grown due to high productivity and less pestilence.

Tech center established to manage Covid data

A national technology center has been set up to manage all Covid-19 data and ensure security for related platforms.

It will function at the Authority of Information Technology Application, whose deputy head, Do Cong Anh, has been named its director, and use the latter’s staff instead of recruiting its own.

The center will coordinate with official agencies and businesses to have them jointly support and cooperate in applying technologies to fight the pandemic.

It will design, develop, manage, operate, and monitor network security solutions for anti-pandemic technology platforms and systems, VnExpress reported.

It will also gather, manage and distribute electronic medical declaration data, quarantine data, public feedback, and control access at Covid checkpoints.

A man scans a QR code to complete the health declaration, one of the procedures everyone has to complete to get through Covid-19 checkpoints in Go Vap district, now the biggest Covid hotspot in HCMC. Photo: VnExpress

Vietnam has been using a number of applications to serve the Covid fight, including the Vietnam Health Declaration app, Bluezone and NCOVI.

These mobile apps help users submit medical declarations and record close contact between app users and visits to public locations among other tasks.

Data on people related to coronavirus control measures would be deleted after a month, the Ministry of Information of Communications said.

Information minister Nguyen Manh Hung said last week that technological solutions, including contact tracing and medical declaration apps, are a vital part of Vietnam's Covid fight along with testing and vaccination.

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