President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc speaks at the virtual Voice of Global South Summit that opened on Thursday. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc called for the Global South to have a common voice and make substantive contributions to promoting multilateralism at the two-day virtual Voice of Global South Summit on Thursday.

Việt Nam always supports regional and multilateral cooperation frameworks based on rules, contributing to peace, cooperation and development, the President said at the event which saw the participation of leaders of a number of countries.

As a member of several free trade agreements, Việt Nam is ready to participate in building resilient and sustainable global supply chains, he said.

The President also suggested that developed countries need to make preferential financial commitments towards the urgent tasks of debt postponement and relief for poor countries as well as support for the response to climate change, green transition and sustainable development.

Sharing Việt Nam’s experience, the President said one of the keys is to take advantage of internal resources, considering it a basis to maintain macroeconomic stability, and improve resilience and adaptation of the economy.

He said it is important to maintain the balance between short-term and long-term goals, and be consistent with goals to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection, social progress and justice.

He also noted that people should be the centre and they are both the most important source of motivation and the target of development.

The leader also highlighted the importance of building an independent and self-reliant economy associated with proactive and active international integration.

In this multi-crisis, multi-challenging, multi-transition context, it is crucial to strengthen the global foundational elements for peace and prosperous development, the president said.

In his remarks at the event, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “Most of the global challenges have not been created by the Global South. But they affect us more. We have seen this in the impact of the COVID pandemic, climate change, terrorism and even the Ukraine conflict. The search for solutions also does not factor in our role or our voice.”

India’s PM said, if the global south works together, it can set the global agenda, The Hindu newspaper reported.

He asserted that the Voice of the Global South needs to set its own tone, saying together, it needs to escape the cycle of dependency on systems and circumstances which are not of its making.

India is hosting the summit which envisages bringing together countries of the Global South and sharing their perspectives and priorities on a common platform across a whole range of issues. More than 120 countries have been invited to this summit. VNS