Ministry of Foreign Affairs delegation works with leaders of Nghe An province

Receiving and working with the delegation were comrades: Thai Thanh Quy - Alternate member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee; Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Le Ngoc Hoa - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; leaders of a number of departments and branches of the province. Photo: Thanh Duy

In recent times, Nghe An's foreign affairs have continued to receive attention and direction from the Central External Relations Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and central ministries and branches. The province has closely, promptly and effectively led, especially in the past 6 months, implementing the 2020 Foreign Affairs Program in line with the practical situation; strengthening foreign relations with provinces with traditional relations with the Lao People's Democratic Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Korea, Japan;...

Regarding investment attraction, Nghe An is currently focusing on attracting investors, especially from Northeast Asian and Southeast Asian countries. Of which, in the province, there are 10 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects from Japan with a total investment capital of 113 million USD; 28 FDI projects from Korean investors with a total capital of nearly 176 million USD have been approved for investment policy/granted investment registration certificates. Recently, Nghe An organized the Korea - Nghe An Meeting Conference in Hanoi to enhance cooperation promotion between the two sides.

Recently, Nghe An province organized a Korea - Nghe An Meeting Conference in Hanoi to enhance cooperation and promotion. Photo: Pham Bang

The mobilization and management of aid from foreign non-governmental organizations is carried out strictly, effectively and in accordance with regulations. In the first 6 months of 2020, 3 projects and 5 non-projects were approved for implementation in the province with a total committed aid capital of nearly 339 thousand USD.

Cultural diplomacy and foreign information activities continue to be implemented with many meaningful activities. Border management is implemented synchronously and effectively, ensuring security, order and social safety along the border.

At the meeting, on behalf of the provincial leaders, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Ngoc Hoa proposed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs continue to support and assist the province in areas such as attracting FDI in the fields of industry, services, agriculture, education and vocational training, sports, and health; attracting ODA capital from the government and international organizations into the fields of agriculture and rural areas combined with poverty reduction; preventing and mitigating natural disasters; cooperating in research and training in the fields of health, education, environment, science and technology.

In the field of education and training, Nghe An also hopes to be supported to call for investors to invest in building an international university in Vinh City; cooperate in training human resources and career guidance. In addition, the province also proposed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs some contents on border management, culture, organizing seminars, trade and investment promotion programs;...

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung acknowledged and highly appreciated Nghe An's foreign affairs work. It is forecasted that in the next 5 years, foreign affairs work will be more difficult due to the general competitive environment, increasing protectionism, and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, Nghe An will take advantage of the momentum of attracting investment to proactively welcome the trend of shifting investment flows.

In addition, the province continues to promote local cooperation (Nghe An with provinces and cities of other countries such as: establishing friendly and cooperative relations) and through the Bilateral Cooperation Committee between Vietnam and other countries.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung speaks at the meeting. Photo: Thanh Duy

Deputy Minister Le Hoai Trung said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is ready to act as a bridge so that Nghe An can continue to promote the above cooperation channels to effectively serve the province's development process.

The Chairman of the National Border Committee highly appreciated the management of the province's borders, border gates, border lines, and landmarks and hoped that Nghe An would continue to pay attention to border and territorial work.

The leaders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also requested the province to pay more attention to improving capacity and awareness to protect and develop the Western Nghe An Biosphere Reserve, which has been recognized by UNESCO as a World Biosphere Reserve; promote cultural space, create an environment and conditions for folk artists to sing Vi and Giam, which has been recognized by UNESCO as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity; and coordinate to implement the dossier to submit to UNESCO to honor female poet Ho Xuan Huong;...

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung speaks at the meeting. Photo: Thanh Duy

At the meeting, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung affirmed that Nghe An has always been proactive in attracting investment and has achieved some initial results.

However, the results of attracting foreign investment are still quite modest compared to the local potential, so Nghe An also wants to make good use of the wave of shifting investment capital flows. The province has prepared good conditions to attract investors, including industrial park infrastructure. The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee expressed his hope that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to support the province to continue improving the efficiency of attracting investment.

In addition, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee also informed about some contents related to the province's Covid-19 epidemic prevention and control work and made some related recommendations.

Comrade Thai Thanh Quy - Alternate member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee spoke at the meeting. Photo: Thanh Duy

Provincial leaders presented souvenirs to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs delegation. Photo: Thanh Duy

At the meeting, Provincial Party Secretary Thai Thanh Quy thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for always supporting and helping Nghe An, and discussed some basic features of the province's location, natural and social conditions. Accordingly, Nghe An has many conditions to develop foreign affairs, and the province also pays great attention to this special work.