President Nguyen Minh Triet met with a number of heads of State while attending the United Nations Security Council summit in New York on September 24.

Photo: VOV

He thanked the Japanese government and people for providing valuable assistance, especially official development assistance (ODA) which has aided Vietnam’s renewal and its international integration process.

He voiced Vietnam’s support for Japan’s bid to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) when the body is enlarged.

Japanese PM Hatoyama in turn praised Vietnam’s development potential and promised the new Japanese government would make every effort to further boost cooperation in politics and economics within the framework of their partnership.

He said Japan would continue to push key funded projects in Vietnam and receive Vietnamese students wishing to study at its universities.

The PM praised Vietnam’s measures to cushion the impact of the global economic recession and announced that the Japanese government will approve a US$500 million credit package to help Vietnam in this effort.

While meeting with Austrian President Heinz Fisher, Mr Triet said Vietnam and Austria should continue to work closely together and support each other at international forums, especially now that both are non-permanent members of the UNSC and Vietnam is poised to take over the chair of ASEAN next year.

Mr Triet proposed that Austria supports Vietnam in negotiations on a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) with the European Union, and lobby the European Commission to recognise Vietnam’s market economy status.

President Fisher praised Vietnam’s efforts to achieve economic growth despite the global financial downturn , and its expanding role in the region and the world. He expressed his belief that as a non-permanent member of the UNSC and the upcoming president of ASEAN, Vietnam will make a significant contribution to peace and development in Southeast Asia and the world.

Mr Triet also received Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who expressed his admiration for Vietnam’s economic development and noted that Vietnam is playing an expanding role among developing economies. He said Venezuela wants to promote cooperation with Vietnam in oil and gas and other areas, including agriculture and industry.

The two leaders briefed each other on economic development in their respective countries and agreed to increase cooperation among the Non-Aligned Movement.

In a meeting with UNDP Administrator Helen Clark, Mr Triet affirmed Vietnam’s determination to take the lead in implementing the One UN Initiative and proposed that UNDP assist Vietnam to implement its economic development programmes and realise other UN initiatives.

Ms Clark assured Mr Triet that UNDP will continue to support Vietnam’s development process and strengthen cooperation between UNDP and ASEAN when Vietnam will chair this regional organisation in 2010.

Mr Triet also had a met with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown followed that evening by Mr Triet attending the fifth annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), which brought together many heads of State and senior leaders from non-governmental organisations, charity funds and economic groups. CGI made its debut in September 2005 on the initiative of the former US President .

The same day, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem held talks in New York with Japanese FM Katsuya Okada, Brazilian FM Celso Amorim and Nepalese FM Sujata Koirala.

Mr Khiem and Estonian FM Urmas Paet signed an agreement on investment promotion and protection between the two countries.

VietNamNet/VOV