Attending the meeting, for MOST were Minister of Science and Technology Hoàng Văn Phong, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Trần Việt Thanh, Director of Department of Organization and Personnel Trần Văn Tùng, Deputy Director of Department of International Cooperation Trần Hậu Ngọc.
On behalf of MOST, Minister Hoàng Văn Phong sent his sincere thanks to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and consideration of Ambassadors for spending time to meet and discuss with MOST before they go to take their new assignments. The Minister has highly appreciated responsibilities and sentiment though they are of different positions, they have always paid attention for general issues, including S&T activities. The Minister expressed his desires that MOST would always be paid with attention and supports of the Ambassadors for some specific S&T tasks.
The Minister said that over the past time diplomatic affairs in terms of cultural aspect together with economic aspect and political aspect have been three pillars of Vietnam’s comprehensive and modern foreign affairs. The Minister hoped diplomatic relations on S&T would be promoted more and more, equivalent to other diplomatic relations for the coming time. The Minister congratulated that the Ambassador with new positions and responsibilities and a lot of experience would successfullyfulfill their assignment.
On behalf of the Ambassador, Mr. Phạm Xuân Sơn – newly appointed Ambassador to the Russian Federation expressed his thanks to the Minister and MOST’s leaders for spending time to meet and his pleasure to visit and working with MOST. “We are fully aware that during the country’s past development as well as for the coming time our country should achieve objectives and tasks decided in Party Congress XI in which S&T plays a very important role. In this field, in addition to efforts made by domestic scientists, issues of international cooperation, absorbing the world intelligence and experience play very important roles. This tasks assigned by the Party and State to MOST is to chair and play key roles”, Mr. Phạm Xuân Sơn said.
Mr. Phạm Xuân Sơn shared “We are always ready to take tasks assigned by the Ministry for representative agencies and hope to share and contribute our small parts to support MOST with fulfillment of tasks assigned by the Party and State”.
In the working session, on behalf of MOST’s leaders, Deputy Minister Trần Việt Thanh informed the Ambassadors of some features about MOST’s International Integration activities over the past time and some important directions for International Integration activities for the coming time.
Deputy Minister Trần Việt Thanh said that over the past time S&T has achieved positive results and made significant contributions to the country’s social and economic development. Coming to the strategic social and economic development period from 2010-2020, our country has currently achieved new development steps. Thanks to the fast economic growth, our country has moved out of low-income countries; Vietnam’s position in the international arena has been improved raised, creating important premise to speed up the country’s industrialization and modernization. In order to achieve objectives by 2020, our country has basically become an industrial country towards modernization, strategies for social and economic development for the 2011-20120 period have identified S&T development as one breakthrough and set the objective that S&T should really be a key driving force of the social and economic development. By 2020 some S&T field should be of modern and advance levels.
MOST has submittedto the Prime Minister the Proposal on S&T International Integration with the objective “to make Vietnam become a strong country in terms of some S&T fields by 2020 for the country’s industrialization and modernization, narrow gaps of S&T abilities of our country with that of the region and the world”.
Currently, Vietnam has S&T cooperation relations with nearly 70 countries, international organizations and territories. More than 80 S&T Cooperation Agreements at Governmental level and Ministerial level have been signed and implemented. Vietnam is a member of nearly 100 international and regional organizations in terms of S&T. Since2000 there have been more than 540 international agreements, cooperation contracts on S&T which have been implemented in research and development units at all levels, more than 400 bilateral research tasks between Vietnam’s S&T organizations and those of other countries have been and being implemented.
The Deputy Minister emphasized that “Strengthening international integration on S&T has an extremely important meaning for the country’s social and economic development. Currently MOST is strengthening bilateral and multi-lateral research cooperation program with objectives to solve S&T tasks at international level; promoting S&T information source for Vietnam’s scientists; carrying out programs to search know-how, decode and master foreign technologies in order to improve technology capacities for Vietnam’s enterprises and then improve the quality and competitiveness of Vietnam’s goods and products…”
Currently MOST has promoted cooperation with Russia, the US and Japan by cooperation programs in the atomic energy field for peaceful purposes in order to serve for Vietnam’s nuclear electricity… Some advanced countries have promoted S&T cooperation with Vietnam and actively proposing mixed laboratories and scientific centers in Vietnam or in countries.
The Deputy Minister hoped that for the coming time with contents, tasks and programs MOST was preparing international integration activities would really need close coordination with Vietnam’s Ambassadors and representative agencies in foreign countries.