Milestones in Foreign Affairs

 

Ms Huynh Thi Anh Suong, Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs, said Quang Ngai province has continually consolidated and strengthened traditional friendship ties with southern provinces of Laos; and expanded cooperation with foreign partners such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank (WB), Japan, South Korea, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and Singapore, to attract official development assistance (ODA), foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign aid from the support project development ODA official, attracting FDI and aid from foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Besides, the department set up communication channels with Vietnamese diplomatic missions abroad to introduce potential and cooperation opportunities in Quang Ngai province. In 10 years, Quang Ngai welcomed and worked with 1,325 foreign delegations with 6,255 guests visiting the province to explore investment and cooperation opportunities, including 81 diplomat delegations, including those led by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, the South Korean Ambassador, the Japanese Ambassador, the Singaporean Ambassador, the Japan Parliamentarian Unions’ delegation, and delegations of Consulates General of the United States, Laos, Australia, Thailand, Singapore and Russia. Furthermore, the province signed 56 agreements and memorandums of understanding with southern provinces of Laos, northeast provinces of Thailand, foreign NGOs, and international agencies like KOICA, JICA and AusAID. On that basis, the Department of Foreign Affairs advised the province to execute agreed contents to support local socioeconomic development.

 

External communication and information and press management over foreign correspondents in Quang Ngai province are also effectively and timely applied. Carrying out the external communication strategy of the province, the Department of Foreign Affairs has collaborated with relevant agencies to guide and manage 111 operations of the foreign press corps with 316 reporters and journalists. The province has organised many international conferences and seminars (e.g. International Scientific Conference on 100-year discovery and study of Sa Huynh Culture, Vietnam and Southeast Asia Underwater Archaeology Workshop, Workshop on Truong Luy Relic Preservation and Promotion with Tourism Development), attracting hundreds of top-notch scientists, researchers, archaeologists and experts from the US, Russia, Canada, Sweden, Australia, India and other nations. Thus, international friends have more objective, honest and deeper understanding of the history, culture and socio-economic development of the province, from which they will have more positive assessments of Vietnam in general and of Quang Ngai province in particular.

 

As a lead agency in establishing relations, mobilising aid and administering operations of foreign NGOs in the province, the Department of Foreign Affairs has teamed up with relevant authorities to effectively mobilise and implement foreign NGO aid. At present, Quang Ngai is partnering with nearly 30 foreign NGOs to carry out 50 programmes and projects a year with a total fund of VND75 billion. In the 2005-2015 period, foreign NGOs funded about VND580 billion in 368 programmes, projects and non-projects. With effective management of aid programmes and projects, foreign NGO-funded aid projects have been deployed effectively and helped socioeconomic infrastructure development and livelihood improvement for people, particularly in mountainous areas.

 

Together with its efforts to expand international cooperation, strengthen external communication, and mobilise foreign NGO aids, Quang Ngai province also pays attention to people-to-people diplomacy and overseas Vietnamese affairs. To date, the Department of Foreign Affairs has advised the Provincial People’s Committee to establish the Overseas Vietnamese Relatives Association of Quang Ngai, Vietnam - South Korea Friendship Association, Vietnam-Russia Friendship Association, and Vietnam - Laos Friendship Association. The province will soon set up the Quang Ngai Union of Friendship Organisations.

 

Without doubt, in the past 10 years, Quang Ngai province’s foreign affairs have set remarkable milestones. The Department of Foreign Affairs has spared no effort to contribute a greater part in the course of deeper and broader development and integration of Quang Ngai province.