Vietnam has signed an international convention on child adoption which is currently ratified by 81 countries, the Vietnam News Agency reported Thursday.

Vietnamese ambassador to the Netherlands, Huynh Minh Chinh, signed the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption at a ceremony held at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This was the first time Vietnam has signed an international convention which was part of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, the news source quoted a representative of the Dutch ministry as saying.

As Vietnam applies its Adoption Law from next January 1, the signing of the convention is expected to help the country create synchronous legal frameworks and address problems in local and foreign adoption for the best benefit of children, including Vietnamese children.

Chinh pledged that the Vietnamese government will complete all local legal procedures to implement the convention.