Practical contributions to foreign affairs and cooperation goals

(Baonghean) -The Vietnam - Spain Friendship Association of Nghe An province was established under Decision No. 234/QD-UBND dated January 18, 2006 of the Provincial People's Committee; after 6 years of operation, the Association has made certain contributions to the province's relationship with Spanish partners.

Spain is the 6th country in the world in terms of development aid and ranks Vietnam as a country in need of development aid. And in fact, Spain's development aid to Vietnam over the past many years has been higher year after year. Enhancing relations with Spain, Vietnam values ​​the advantages: Spain is a leading country in the world in tourism development; ranked 2nd in the world (after the United States) in total tourism income. In 2011, the Spanish Government helped the Vietnamese tourism industry implement the Project: "Strengthening the capacity of the Vietnamese tourism industry to implement the tourism development strategy for the period 2011 - 2020 with a vision to 2030, focusing on socially responsible policies". Another advantage is that there are currently about 400 million people in 33 countries around the world who speak Spanish.

In the friendly relationship and good development cooperation between Vietnam and Spain, since 1998, this country has helped Nghe An with many projects on hunger eradication, poverty reduction, upgrading facilities and medical equipment for districts in the province with capital of tens of billions of VND. Experts and the Spanish Embassy have made visits and worked in Nghe An with the good will to establish friendly relations with Nghe An partners. The non-governmental organization ANESVAD has come to Nghe An since 1998 and supported the construction of 5 rural bridges in Nam Dan, Nghi Loc, Dien Chau, Quynh Luu, Nghia Dan districts with a total cost of over 1 billion VND. From 1999 to 2007, Nghe An province was helped with tens of billions of VND to upgrade technical houses, treatment houses, water and electricity systems for Nam Dan District Health Center, renovate and upgrade 13 commune health stations, organize training courses for medical staff, management staff for district health centers with an amount of 8 billion VND; upgrade medical services for Yen Thanh district with 9 billion VND, Tan Ky district with 10 billion VND, Anh Son district with 10 billion VND; build 5 general clinics in Do Luong and Quy Hop with 4 billion VND. In addition, ANESVAD organization also helped the Provincial Women's Union with the project on communication of health care and nutrition for mothers and children in districts with projects with a total budget of 5 billion VND. Projects of the Spanish organization CODESPA have supported Nghe An with a number of teaching and training equipment to improve the capacity of the monitoring system and implementation of administrative laws for district and provincial management agencies worth billions of dong.

In the context of the Vietnam - Spain relationship in general and Nghe An - Spain in particular being basically favorable, the Vietnam - Spain Friendship Association of Nghe An province has overcome a number of difficulties in diplomatic and financial mechanisms, and limitations in connecting partners in the coming time, to create practical results. The Association has advised the Provincial People's Committee and the Nghe An Union of Friendship Organizations to participate in the task of the Central Vietnam - Spain Friendship Association to welcome and work with the Embassy of Spain in Hanoi and the Spanish Institute for Vietnam Studies. Through exchanges and people-to-people diplomacy, it has connected investment cooperation and aid for many projects for Nghe An, bringing practical benefits as mentioned above. And also through the implementation of projects of Spanish non-governmental organizations with localities in the province, the friendly cooperation between Nghe An and the above organizations has increasingly developed well.

People in the aid-receiving localities clearly benefit, contributing to creating trust and strengthening the friendly relations between the people of the two countries. Every year, the Vietnam - Spain Friendship Association of Nghe An province has consulted and participated in welcoming 2 to 4 delegations of project staff from non-governmental organizations, the Spanish Embassy and the AECI development cooperation agency to work, inspect projects and exchange, cooperate and be friendly with local authorities implementing the projects; participating in the delegation of the Central Aid Coordination Board, seminars, and mobilizing Spanish projects to Vietnam and Nghe An province. In addition, the Association also actively participates in other friendship and foreign affairs activities within the framework of the two countries' diplomacy.

At this time, the Vietnam - Spain Friendship Association of Nghe An province is holding its 2nd Congress for the 2013 - 2018 term, with the basic direction of activities being to strengthen relations, connect and exchange with the Central Committees of the Association and the Friendship Associations in Hanoi City, in order to grasp information, exchange experiences, and promote cooperative relations between localities in the country and Spain.

Organize talks and writings about the situation of the country and people of Spain and organize cultural exchange activities between artists, experts, tourists of Spain and Nghe An. At the same time, strengthen foreign affairs activities according to functions and tasks to establish direct relations between Nghe An partners and Spanish partners; contribute to calling for support from non-governmental organizations and new Spanish partners in Nghe An.

King Wu