I. ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar will pay an official visit to Viet Nam (14 to 15 August 2022)

At the invitation of Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar Sheikh Mohamed bin Adulrahman Al-Thaini will pay an official visit to Viet Nam from 14 to 15 August 2022.

The visit takes place as relations between Viet Nam and Qatar have continued to witness positive development. Qatar is an important trading partner of Viet Nam in the Middle East. Bilateral trade turnover in 2021 reached over 400 million USD.

As part of the visit, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar Shiekh Mohamed bin Adulrahman Al-Thaini is expected to pay courtesy calls on Vietnamese high-level leaders and hold talks with Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son to discuss measures to enhance cooperation in energy, economy, trade, investment, agriculture and tourism, to increase cooperation and mutual support at international forums, discuss plans for the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations (1993 - 2023), and sign some bilateral cooperation documents.

2. Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan will pay a working visit to Viet Nam

At the invitation of Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tileuberdi will pay a working visit to Viet Nam from 17 to 18 August 2022.

The visit takes place as the two countries are commemorating the 30th anniversary of Viet Nam - Kazakhstan diplomatic relations (1992 - 2022). Recently, the traditional Viet Nam - Kazakhstan friendship has flourished.Both sides maintained high-level delegation exchanges prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and continued close cooperation and mutual support at multilateral forums, particularly within the UN and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

As part of the trip, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tileuberdi is expected to meet with Vietnamese high-level leaders, and hold talks with Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son to discuss measures to strengthen the positive traditional friendship between the two countries, as well as regional and international matters of mutual interest.

3. ASEAN Family Day (13 August 2022)

To celebrate the 55th anniversary of ASEAN and the 27th anniversary of Viet Nam’s accession to ASEAN, on the morning of 13 August, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the ASEAN Community Women’s Circle of Hanoi will organize the 2022 ASEAN Family Day. This event is expected to have the participation of leaders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, Ambassadors, Heads of Diplomatic Missions, officials of Embassies and Missions of 9 ASEAN countries and 12 ASEAN Dialogue Partners in Hanoi, members of the ASEAN Community Women’s Circle of Hanoi, as well as MOFAofficials and their families.

This is an annual activity which had been disrupted for 2 years due to Covid-19. Activities for this year’s ASEAN Family Day include: A bicycle ride from the MOFA headquarters at 1 Ton That Dam street to the office at 2 Le Quang Dao street, a showcase of games, art performances and cuisine of ASEAN countries, and a fashion show of ASEAN national costumes.

As I have mentioned, for years, this has been organized annually to facilitate exchange, understanding, solidarity, friendship and cooperation between ASEAN countries, and between ASEAN and Viet Nam’s partners, to raise public awareness, foster the ASEAN Community identity, and to uphold the role of the ASEAN Community Women’s Circle of Hanoi.

We hope that this shall be a celebration of all ASEAN countries and its partners in Hanoi. The Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has thus invites domestic and international journalists to register for this event.

II. Q&A

1. Xinhua: What is Viet Nam’s position on the current situation in the Taiwan Strait?

Viet Nam follows with keen interest the current situation in the Taiwan Strait. Viet Nam believes that peace, stability and cooperation in the Strait bears great significance to the region and the world, as the world is currently experiencing many complicated developments.

Viet Nam’s position on Chinese Taipei is consistent, and has been made clear in documents during high-level visits between Viet Nam and China. On the basis of the “One China” policy, Viet Nam hopes that all relevant parties will exercise restraint and avoid increasing tensions in the Taiwan Strait, and actively contribute to the maintenance of peace, stability, and promotion of cooperation and development in the region and the world.

2. Zing: Can you provide an update on the issue that some countries have stopped granting visas for Viet Nam’s new passport?

Acting on the directive of the Prime Minister, on 9 August 2022, the Consular Department, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Immigration Department of the Ministry of Public Security worked with the Embassies of Germany, Czech Republic and Spain in Viet Nam to discuss these countries’ suspension of visas for Viet Nam’s new passports due to the ID page lacking information on the place of birth.

At the meeting, representatives from the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Immigration Department of the Ministry of Public Security voiced their perspective and the directions Viet Nam will take to resolve this issue. In the immediate, Viet Nam has agreed to add a “place of birth” note to the new passports at the request of the citizens. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security requests that countries work with Viet Nam in resolving issues and granting visas for Viet Nam’s new passport.

We also appreciate the representatives from the Embassies of Germany, Czech Republic and Spain for affirming their readiness to cooperate with Vietnamese competent authorities to resolve issues in granting visas for Viet Nam’s new passport, on the condition that the citizens must provide information verifying their place of birth in order to complete the documents requesting for visas for these countries.

In the time to come, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Vietnamese diplomatic missions abroad will continue to closely monitor this issue, and work closely with the Ministry of Public Security and competent authorities in the host countries to resolve difficulties and facilitate international travel for Vietnamese citizens.

3. Phoenix TV: After Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Chinese Taipei, relations between China and the US have become tense and some areas of cooperation might become frozen for a long time. What measures will Viet Nam take to deal with this, considering these are two of Viet Nam’s major partners?

 Viet Nam’s current position on the Taiwan Strait has been touched upon earlier.

 Regarding your question, I would like to reiterate that the US and China are both major powers and two of Viet Nam’s most important partners. Relations between the two countries will affect peace, stability and prosperity on a global scale. Viet Nam hopes that the two countries will maintain healthy, stable relations and resolve all disagreements through dialogue, in accordance with international law.

 For our part, Viet Nam will continue to strengthen relations with both countries on the basis of respect for independence, self-reliance, mutual respect, mutually beneficial cooperation, for the benefit of the people, for peace, stability and prosperity in the region and the world.

4. The World and Viet Nam Report: What is Viet Nam’s comment on the US officially launching an anti-tax evasion investigation into Vietnamese steel pipes?

 First and foremost, I must reiterate that the Viet Nam - US Comprehensive Partnership has witnessed development in all areas, including economy, trade and investment. Viet Nam is one of the US’ leading partners in Southeast Asia, and the US is Viet Nam’s second largest trading partner, with total bilateral trade turnover exceeding 110 billion USD in 2021.

With the policy to strengthen economic, trade and investment cooperation with the US on the basis of freedom, fairness, mutual benefit and in accordance with bilateral agreements and regulations of the WTO, Viet Nam stands ready and frequently conducts exchanges with the US through existing mechanisms such as the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) to resolve emerging issues in a timely manner and strengthen the economic, trade and investment bilateral cooperation, for the benefit of business and the two peoples.

In this spirit, we stand ready and hope that the US will further discuss with us on this matter.

5. Viet Nam News Agency: What is Viet Nam’s comment on the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism proposing numerous recovery measures to attract international tourists such as simplifying immigration procedures, expanding the list of countries with visa exemptions, prioritizing EU countries and the US, particularly as Viet Nam has welcomed less than 1 million visitors in 7 months, while the annual goal is 5 million?

As you may know, as the Covid-19 pandemic has continued, with unpredictable developments and new variants that spread more rapidly and easily, along with the monkeypox, which has been considered by the WHO as deeply concerning, some countries are not yet open and are still imposing travel restrictions. Among them are countries and territories which are among Viet Nam’s top tourism markets. In addition, some economies in the world are still affected post-pandemic, therefore international tourism has not recovered as desired. Viet Nam is no exception.

Acting on the directive of the Prime Minister on accelerating tourism recovery to adapt to the new normal, recently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has actively worked with domestic Ministries and competent authorities and discuss with international partners to create favorable conditions for foreigners and Vietnamese citizens to travel. These include enhancing exchanges, negotiating for the recognition of vaccine passports, promoting the signing of international treaties on immigration with other countries, among others.

In reality, Viet Nam is among the earliest to resume pre-pandemic immigration policies. Since 15 March 2022, Viet Nam has resumed visa granting and exemption policies for other countries. Currently, Viet Nam is considered one of the Southeast Asian countries with the most facilitative immigration policies post Covid-19.

We believe that in order to promote recovery and sustainable development in tourism, relevant competent and local authorities need to focus on building a “green” tourism environment, linking the development of tourism with conservation, fostering the national identity and value, improving the quality of tourism products and services, of human resources and tourism infrastructure in accordance with the needs of tourists, increasing the promotion of Vietnamese tourism to the world, particularly utilizing modern technology, with innovative contents and information.

I believe this is also the direction of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in the time to come. For our part, in addition to the aforementioned contributions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue working with the Ministry of Public Security and competent authorities to study and build an immigration policy that is suitable to the new normal and current regulations.

6. Dan Tri: There’s been information that Ho Hoai Anh and Nguyen Hong Dang have been deported back to Viet Nam by request of Spanish authorities. What are the citizen protection measures being undertaken for these two citizens, if any?

As we answered on 8 August, the Embassy of Viet Nam in Spain officially announced that on 3 August, the court returned the passports to the two Vietnamese nationals, because a local attorney contacted the court. The Embassy also confirmed that these two nationals have departed Spain, and the press have reported that they’ve arrived in Viet Nam.

During the time that the case is under investigation by Spanish authorities or during trial processes, the Embassy of Viet Nam in Spain will continue to monitor the case, closely work with domestic and relevant foreign authorities, while also readying measures to ensure the rights and legitimate interests of the two Vietnamese nationals.