The 63 staff members of Vietnam’s Level-2 Field Hospital Rotation 4 operating at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) have been honored with the UN Peacekeeping Medals for their dedication and outstanding contributions to UN missions.

The award ceremony was held in Bentiu, South Sudan, on Wednesday, marking an important milestone for the field hospital after nearly a year of duty in South Sudan.

Attending in the event were Lieutenant General Mohan Subramanian, Force Commander of the UNMISS; Jane Lanyero Kony, acting head of the UN Peacekeeping mission’s Field Office in Bentiu; Iqbal Mohd, UNMISS Chief Medical Officer; Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Kim Tinh, Commander of the UN peacekeeping forces of Vietnam in South Sudan; and Lieutenant Colonel Vu Minh Duong, director of the hospital, among other participants.

With the duty of providing medical care for UN staff working at the mission, the hospital has always strived to successfully complete its duties, contributing to the promotion of the beautiful images of the country and people of Vietnam.

Addressing the ceremony, Lieutenant General Subramanian and Kony praised the dedication and professionalism of the hospital’s staff members, and emphasized that the medals are the UN’s recognition for their great efforts during their missions in South Sudan.

The awards also serve as a demonstration for Vietnam’s contributions to peace and stability in the world, they added.

On behalf of the hospital staff, Lieutenant Colonel Duong pledged that they will continue devoting all their ability to provide the best possible healthcare and treatment services for UN staff as well as local people.

Vietnam has so far hosted four field hospitals in South Sudan.

The first field hospital was opened in October 2018 and the second and third were launched in November 2019 and March 2021, respectively.

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The U.S. Department of State’s annual human rights report contains inaccurate information about Vietnam, Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said, adding the Southeast Asian nation is ready to discuss the discrepancies with the U.S. 

Deputy spokeswoman of the foreign ministry Pham Thu Hang spoke at a press conference in Hanoi on Thursday in response to the U.S. State Department’s March 20 announcement of the 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – the Human Rights Report – which stated that some Asian countries, including Vietnam, had “seriously and systematically violated human rights.”

“Vietnam regrets that the Human Rights Report has released biased statements based on inaccurate information about Vietnam,” Hang said.

It is Vietnam’s consistent policy to protect and promote human rights, the deputy spokeswoman emphasized.  

Considering its citizens as the central and driving force of the country’s renovation and development process, Vietnam strives to improve living standards and rights, leaving no one behind, Hang told the conference.

“Basic human freedoms are enshrined in the Constitution of Vietnam. They are protected and promoted by legal documents as well as enforced in practice,” the representative of the foreign ministry stated.

She stressed that Vietnam is always willing to have frank and open discussions in a constructive spirit with the U.S. about issues of differences to promote mutual understanding and contribute to the development of the two countries’ comprehensive partnership.

Vietnam and the U.S. established diplomatic relations in 1995 and upgraded their ties to a comprehensive partnership in 2013.

“We look forward and are ready to work with the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden to further promote the two countries’ relations effectively and sustainably, for peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world,” Hang told the media when asked about the potential of upgrading of ties between the two countries. 

The U.S. has also repeatedly affirmed its support for a strong, independent, and prosperous Vietnam, the diplomat said.

In October last year, Vietnam was elected again to the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2023-25 term, after its first membership in 2013.

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Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council (USABC) delegation at the Government Headquarters on March 22.

The attendees were leaders of the Government Office and the ministries of Planning and Investment, Industry and Trade, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Transport, Information and Communication, Health, Agriculture and Rural Development, Culture – Sports and Tourism.

Also in attendance were the State Bank of Vietnam, the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council President and CEO Ted Osius, the U.S. Ambassador in Vietnam Marc E. Knapper.

The leaders of more than 50 leading enterprises in the U.S. and the world were there too, including AES, Netflix, Boeing, Apple, Coca-Cola, Pfizer, Abbott, Visa, Citibank, Meta, Ford, and FedEx Express. 

The Prime Minister welcomed the USABC and the U.S. business delegation to Vietnam, and the delegation members joined a frank, sincere and effective working session with Vietnamese agencies.

This is a continuation of previous working sessions and exchanges between the Vietnamese Government, the Prime Minister, ministries, branches and localities and the USABC and the U.S. businesses to remove difficulties, overcome challenges and develop together.

The Prime Minister thanked the U.S. Government for supporting Vietnam in COVID-19 prevention and control. 

Thanks to USABC and the U.S. businesses for accompanying Vietnam in overcoming difficulties, recovering and developing during the past years; he said the Government of Vietnam is always open and ready to listen to the thoughts, aspirations and opinions of the U.S. business community.

The Prime Minister said that Vietnam considers the U.S. one of its most important partners and welcomes the U.S. to support a strong, independent, prosperous Vietnam. 

Vietnam wishes to promote the Vietnam-U.S. Comprehensive Partnership relation to becoming more substantive, stable, and intensive based on respect for independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and political institutions of each other.

The head of Government praised the production and business investment activities and high sense of responsibility of the U.S. business community in Vietnam, affirming that the Government is always open and ready to listen to the thoughts, aspirations and opinions of the U.S. business community.

The Prime Minister said that the Government always protects the legitimate rights and interests of investors and respects, encourages and is ready to create favourable conditions for this sector to develop in the long term, cooperate and compete healthily with other economic sectors in the spirit of “harmonious benefits, shared risks”.

The Representatives of the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council and U.S. businesses express their trust in Vietnam’s economic growth prospects, undertaking to place long-term investment in Vietnam, especially in the fields of green transformation, digital transformation, energy transformation, finance, manufacturing, automobile industry, entertainment industry, healthcare, life sciences, logistics, speeding up planning, and approving a few specific projects.

The U.S. businesses give the Government, ministries and branches of Vietnam a few suggestions to create more favourable conditions such as a legal framework on e-commerce; information network security and information accessibility; policy of tax; capital market reformation to promote investment; less cumbersome visa granting policy.

Energy continues to be the main topic of discussion with the goal of promoting the development of multi-billion U.S.-dollar energy projects in Vietnam.

A representative from AES Vietnam who joined the delegation said, “AES is the largest U.S. investor in Vietnam’s energy sector and plays active role in energy cooperation between the two countries, with our current projects Son My LNG terminal and Son My 2 power plant. Progress on these large- scale projects by AES and other member companies will help move Vietnam forward”.

After leaders of ministries and branches communicated and answered the comments and suggestions given by the USABC and the U.S. businesses, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh acknowledged the comments and answered suggestions given by the USABC and the U.S. businesses.

He also directed the ministries and branches of Vietnam to continue processing the issues according to the opinions and suggestions of the U.S. businesses, thereby continuing to promote economic cooperation, contributing to promoting Vietnam-U.S. Comprehensive Partnership relation become a substantive, effective, equal and mutually beneficial relationship.

The Prime Minister says that the Government of Vietnam continues to create favourable conditions for U.S. businesses to expand investment in Vietnam while creating conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to participate more deeply in the production value chain of the U.S. businesses.

He suggests that the two sides continue to discuss removing the barriers in production and business and improving the business investment environment.

The Prime Minister also informs about a few specific industries and fields that the USABC and the U.S. businesses are interested in, such as the digital economy and creative industries, healthcare, energy, agriculture, and aviation.

The Head of the Government of Vietnam suggests that USABC businesses should continue to act as a bridge between the US Government and businesses and the Government of Vietnam.

This will support to promote the cooperation channels between the two countries; strengthen the substantive and effective cooperation with Vietnam based on optimising the potentiality in the framework of Vietnam-U.S. Comprehensive Partnership relation, especially in the field of the economy-trade-investment; urge the U.S. Government to strengthen the economic and trade activities with ASEAN, to contribute to maintaining peace, stability, cooperation and development in Southeast Asia in particular and Asia-Pacific in general.

The Prime Minister suggests the USABC expand its investment business in Vietnam, focusing on the fields where Vietnam needs, and the USABC’s businesses have their strengths. The cooperation between business associations, industry associations and businesses of the two countries should be strengthened to create conditions for Vietnamese businesses to participate more deeply in the global supply chain and value.

The USABC cooperates with Vietnam in researching and developing specific policies to be able to approach and attract investment from the U.S. multinational companies in the two options: carrying out the big, high-tech projects, creating favourable conditions for the corporations to build the R&D centres, technology incubators associated with human resource training, modern management.

The council strengthens its cooperation, procurement and technology transfer to Vietnamese businesses, especially in the fields of vaccine production, therapeutic drugs, medical equipment, high technology, digital agriculture, and clean, smart agriculture to adapt to climate change.

The Prime Minister affirms that Vietnam is ready to import machines, equipment, tools and spare parts from the U.S. to improve the Vietnam-U.S. trade balance.

He suggests that U.S. businesses research and develop cooperation with Vietnam in this option and supports the Government of Vietnam’s cooperation with the U.S. Government in forming a bilateral cooperation mechanism on investment promotion to assess the potential, demand and investment cooperation opportunities between the two countries and increase two-way investment flows.

The Prime Minister believes that the USABC and the U.S. businesses will make effective contributions to the promotion of the Vietnam-U.S. Comprehensive Partnership relation more and more substantive and intensive based on mutual benefits, bringing growth and jobs for the people of both countries, contributing to the maintenance of the peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

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