Ambassador Nguyễn Thị Vân Anh (right) meets UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences Lidia Arthur Brito. VNA/VNS Photo

PARIS Việt Nam always identifies science and technology as a top national policy and an important driving force for the country's rapid and sustainable development, Ambassador Nguyễn Thị Vân Anh, Permanent Representative of Việt Nam to UNESCO has told UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences Lidia Arthur Brito.

At their meeting on March 8, the ambassador expressed her wish to strengthen Việt Nam's cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in this field in the coming time in the spirit of implementing the Memorandum of Understanding on Việt Nam - UNESCO Cooperation for the 2021-25 period.

She thanked UNESCO for supporting Việt Nam in making dossiers of, preserving and promoting the value of Global Geoparks and World Biosphere Reserves to serve sustainable socio-economic development of localities; and asked the organisation to continue with its assistance in building the dossier for the Lạng Sơn Geopark to seek recognition as a Global Geopark.

The diplomat took the occasion to invite the Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences to visit Việt Nam and attend the 8th Asia Pacific Geoparks Network Symposium to be hosted by the northern mountainous province of Cao Bằng in September.

Lidia Arthur Brito thanked Việt Nam for always supporting and contributing to UNESCO's efforts to implement its functions and tasks in the field of natural sciences.

She affirmed her willingness to intensify collaboration with Việt Nam in the coming time, especially in the fields of open science, oceanography, water resources management, application of artificial intelligence (AI) in science, and ethics in AI, and preservation and promotion of the value of World Biosphere Reserves and Global Geoparks towards sustainable development. VNS