Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính (left) and Director-General of UNESCO Audrey Azoulay. VNA/VNS Photo

 PARIS — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính visited the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in Paris, France, and met with Director-General of UNESCO Audrey Azoulay on November 5 (local time), during his official visit to France.

The PM highlighted the role and position of UNESCO as well as its contributions to peace and prosperity in the world. 

He underlined that Việt Nam has paid heed to the implementation of the people-centred policy and sustainable development based on cultural and historical values, as well as environmental protection in line with the UN’s sustainable development goals.

Chính highly appreciated UNESCO’s accompanying Việt Nam in national construction and development, and hopes that the two sides will further bolster cooperation to lift the bilateral relations to a new height in a more practical and efficient manner, particularly with a focus on sharing knowledge and ideas, promoting models and support in capacity enhancement for sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development in Việt Nam.

He affirmed that Việt Nam will continue to uphold the role of an active and responsible member that effectively contributes to UNESCO activities during Azoulay’s second term, especially as the country is running for a seat in the UNESCO Executive Board for 2021-25, the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage for 2022-26, and the world heritage committee for 2023-27.

He invited the UNESCO Director-General to visit Việt Nam soon to discuss orientations and cooperation priorities in the new period, helping the UNESCO-Việt Nam relations continue flourishing in the future.

For her part, the UNESCO Director-General spoke highly of the Vietnamese Government's due attention, affirming that Việt Nam has always been a dynamic and responsible member, and among pioneers in the effective implementation of UNESCO programmes and activities.

Azoulay hailed Việt Nam’s proactive role as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2020-21 tenure and a key member of ASEAN, contributing to fostering cooperation between the region and the UN and UNESCO in particular.

She expressed her pleasure with the sound UNESCO-Việt Nam relations in the past 45 years, and pledged to further support and assist Việt Nam in education, human resources quality improvement, culture, science and communications, and creating favourable conditions for Vietnamese to work in UNESCO.

On the occasion, the Vietnamese PM attended an exhibition marking the 45th anniversary of the UNESCO-Việt Nam partnership for peace and sustainable development and witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on Việt Nam-UNESCO cooperation for the 2021-25, along with an cooperation agreement between SOVICO Group and UNESCO on promoting a network of innovative cities and sustainable tourism development in Việt Nam.