Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister PhamBinh Minh on April 27 sent a video message to the 77th Session of the UnitedNations Economic and Social Commission ofඣ Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) at theinvitation of A.S.Alisjahbana, UN Under-Secretary General and UNESCAP ExecutiveSecretary.

In hisremarks, Minh affirmed that for the past year, thanks to national efforts andthe valuable cooperation and support of the international community, Vietnam hasfundamentally put the pandemic under control, ensuring social protection and securityand economic growth recovery, attaining our “dual goals” of pandemic preventionand social-economic growth and recovery. “Vietnam has also adjusted our short and long-term policies in transforming ourgrowth model into one that is based on technologies, innovations, increasingthe quality of economic growth to sustain production and rapid post-pandemicrecovery towards sustainable development,” he said. As the Chair of ASEAN in 2020, Vietnam pursued important initiatives withinASEAN to further efforts against the COVID-19 pandemic, towards the recovery ofregional supply chains and ASEAN connectivity in coherence with sustainabledevelopment. It has also actively participated in the strengthening of the Mekongcooperation frameworks and the adoption of APEC Vision to 2040. According to the Vietnameseofficial, the United Nations needs to continue to play its central role inpolicy cooperation and coordination to effectively implement acomprehensive strategy to tackle the pandemic, including having vaccines as thecommon good of the international community, ensuring fair, equitable and timelyaccess to vaccination, to diagnosis and treatment of the COVID-19. In addition, countries need toenhance international cooperation at all levels in practical experience andknowledge sharing in order to implement post-pandemic recovery strategies andpolicies, which are suitable for each country’s context, conditions andpriorities, he noted. “It is imperative to enhance regional cooperation on trade and investment,tourism and innovative economy, energy, as well as on digital economy,including eradicating digital gap, repairing supply chains disruption, ensuringthe continuous flows of goods and supply chains, enhancing regional economicintegration and development of high-quality human resources so that theAsia-Pacific region continues to be the forefront of international economic recovery,”he stressed. The 77th Session of theUNESCAP was attended by Presidents and Prime Ministers of 18 countries,including the Presidents of Indonesia and Afghanistan and the Prime Ministersof Cambodia and Pakistan. In their remarks, they shared experience in pandemic preventionand control, called for strengthening multilateral cooperation, and suggestedUNESCAP continue its role of coordinating cooperation and informationand experience sharing at the regional level. The four-day session, themed “Buildingback better from crises through regional cooperation in Asia and the Pacific,will wrap up on April 29. UNESCAP is one of the five regionalsocio-economic commissions of the United Nations. Its main function is toprovide policy consultations and serve as a bridge for experience and knowledgesharing among member countries in economic, social and environmental fields.Currently, UNESCAP has 53 member countries which are located in theAsia-Pacific region./.