I. ANNOUNCEMENT

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh pays an official visit to Cambodia, and attends the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits and related summits (8-13 November).

At the invitation of Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia and 2022 ASEAN Chair, Samdech Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will pay an official visit to the Kingdom of Cambodia from 8-9 November and attend the 40^th and 41_st ASEAN Summits and related summits from 10-13 November.

This is the first official visit to Cambodia by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh since taking office, and the first visit by a Vietnamese leader to Cambodia in the Viet Nam - Cambodia Friendship Year 2022. The visit will take place as the neighborliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive, long-term and sustainable cooperation between Viet Nam and Cambodia has continued to thrive. The two sides have worked together to organize a number of meaningful activities to celebrate the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations (1967 - 2022). Bilateral trade turnover in the first 9 months of 2022 reached US$8.45 billion, a 16.7% year-on-year increase. As part of the visit, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is expected to hold talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and join Prime Minister Hun Sen to attend and deliver a keynote speech at the Viet Nam - Cambodia Trade and Investment Promotion Forum, have an audience with King Norodom Shihamoni, and have meetings with President of the Senate Say Chhum, President of the National Assembly Heng Samrin, and other Cambodian leaders.

This is also the first time that Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will attend the ASEAN Summits and Related Summits between ASEAN and its Partners in-person. The Summits will mark the resumption of face-to-face exchanges and dialogues between the Leaders after an over-2-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This will be an opportunity for the Leaders to discuss ASEAN Community building, strengthen ASEAN’s solidarity and centrality, review and set directions for ASEAN’s external partnerships, and discuss strategic issues in the region and the world. The Prime Minister is expected to attend more than 20 activities and have meetings with leaders of countries and international organizations to discuss issues of mutual interests.

II. Q&A

1. Tuoi Tre: What are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ plans to “repatriate” Emperor Bao Dai’s gold seal, which is being auctioned off in France?

This has been reported by the Vietnamese press.

In the past few days, following the direction of the Government leaders, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Viet Nam Embassy in France, the Viet Nam Permanent Mission to UNESCO have worked closely with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and other relevant ministries and agencies to discuss with France’s Foreign Ministry, Culture Ministry, the French Embassy in Viet Nam, the leaders of UNESCO and the auction company to verify the information and suspend the auction. On 31 October, the Viet Nam Embassy in France said the auction has been rescheduled to 10 November.

In the time to come, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to direct Vietnamese Representative Missions in France and to UNESCO to work closely with and support the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to seek possible options and take necessary measures to bring the artifact back to Viet Nam.

2. Thanh nien: Can you provide more information on the citizen protection measures implemented for the crowd crush incident in Itaewon, Republic of Korea?

As we reported, so far, one Vietnamese citizen (born in 2001) has been identified as having died and another was injured in the incident in Itaewon, Seoul. Immediately upon receiving the information, acting on the direction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of Viet Nam in the Republic of Korea has actively implemented a number of citizen protection measures in a timely manner, visiting the victims and assisted in funeral arrangements in accordance with the family’s wishes. According to the Embassy, on 02 November, the victim’s body was returned to Viet Nam.

Currently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs departments and the Embassy of Viet Nam in the Republic of Korea are still following the situation, maintaining regular contact with local authorities and the Vietnamese community in the Republic of Korea, and standing ready to implement necessary citizen protection measures in case there are more casualties involving Vietnamese citizens.

3. AFP: What are Viet Nam’s expectations for the ASEAN Summit next week in Phnom Penh? Regarding Myanmar, what measures will Viet Nam carry out to ensure the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus?

As I have announced, at the invitation of Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia Hun Sen, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will attend the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits and Related Summits from 10-13 November in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  According to the program, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will tentatively attend a number of important summits, which as I have mentioned include about 20 activities, discuss major issues with ASEAN leaders such as the progress of ASEAN Community building, ASEAN’s external relations, ASEAN centrality, and other regional and international issues of common interest. Also on this occasion, the Prime Minister will hold a number of meetings with leaders of partner countries to discuss issues related to ASEAN as well as Viet Nam’s relations with its partners.

As an active and responsible member of ASEAN, Viet Nam will work closely with Cambodia, the ASEAN Chair, and other countries to ensure that the Summits are successful and achieve substantive results, contribute to strengthening the solidarity, unity and centrality of ASEAN, promote ASEAN’s mutually beneficial partnerships, handle the issues that ASEAN is facing in a balanced and harmonious manner, and contribute to the process of ASEAN Community building, for peace and stability in Southeast Asia in particular, and in the Asia - Pacific as a whole.

Regarding the situation in Myanmar, as a neighboring country and a fellow member of ASEAN, Viet Nam hopes that the situation will soon stabilize so that Myanmar may continue its development for the benefit of its people, contributing to building a united, resilient and strong ASEAN Community.

In that spirit, Viet Nam supports and stands ready to contribute to ASEAN's efforts to assist Myanmar in overcoming the current crisis, especially through the effective implementation of the Five-Point Consensus, with priorities given to ending the violence, promoting dialogue and reconciliation among relevant parties for the benefit of the people of Myanmar, for the solidarity and integrity of ASEAN, and for peace, stability and cooperation in the region. Support to Myanmar needs to be implemented in a step-by-step, synchronous, balanced and transparent manner by ASEAN. In addition, ASEAN also needs to play a central role in assembling and coordinating international efforts to support Myanmar.

4. Zing: There’s information that a number of US Senators sending a letter of protest to the authorities of Chinese Taipei alleging that the way the Government of Viet Nam handled the Formosa incident was not adequate. What is Viet Nam’s comment on this?

Viet Nam’s consistent position is to always prioritize the protection of the living environment and the people's health, not to trade the environment for economic growth. Accordingly, Viet Nam resolutely eliminates projects that cause environmental pollution to ensure the quality of the living environment, protect biodiversity and ecosystems. Viet Nam is also developing a green, circular, environmentally friendly economy.

Regarding the marine environmental incident that occured in 4 Central provinces of Viet Nam in 2016, immediately after the incident, the Party, Government, Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers gave resolute directions to relevant ministries, agencies and localities to rapidly investigate the cause and deploy synchronous solutions to handle the incident and bring back stability to the lives of the people in the affected areas. The Formosa Ha Tinh Hung Nghiep Iron and Steel Company Limited also admitted responsibility for the incident, paid compensations for the damages in accordance with relevant regulations, and apologized to the people and Government of Viet Nam.

As directed by the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment established a Monitoring Committee and a Cross-sectoral Monitoring Team who oversaw The Formosa Ha Tinh Hung Nghiep Iron and Steel Company Limited in remedying the consequences of the incident in the 4 central provinces of Vietnam. Since July 2016, the Committee and the Team have paid various regular and sporadic visits to monitor the implementation of environmental protection commitments of The Formosa Ha Tinh Hung Nghiep Iron and Steel Company Limited. The Prime Minister has also issued a decision to approve the proposal determining the damages, providing compensation and assistance, resuming production and ensuring social welfare for the people affected by the incidents in Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue, and through that, delegating responsibilities of relevant ministries, agencies and localities in resolving the incident.

Most recently, according to the report of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on the results of 6 years of implementing the cross-sectoral monitoring mechanisms over the remedy efforts and commitments to environmental protection of The Formosa Ha Tinh Hung Nghiep Iron and Steel Company Limited, the remediation has been completed and commitments to environmental protection have been fulfilled. Currently, production activities of The Formosa Ha Tinh Hung Nghiep Iron and Steel Company Limited as well as the lives of people in the area have been restored and stabilized.

5. Sputnik: What is the reason a number of SU-30 aircrafts were spotted circling the skies of Hanoi, causing a social media sensation?

To our knowledge, this is an exercise conducted by the Viet Nam People’s Air Force in preparation of the Viet Nam International Defense Expo slated for December.

6. Sputnik: Can you comment on a tweet posted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine warning that Viet Nam may experience the effects of the Black Sea grain deal?

The Government of Viet Nam always pays great attention to ensuring national food security. It is considered an essential task in the national industrialization and modernization process that ensures stability and sustainable development of the country. Each year, Vietnam produces from 41 to 43 million tons of rice, and 6.5 million tons of meat of all sorts to meet the domestic consumption demands. At the same time, as one of the leading agricultural exporters, Viet Nam also makes important contributions to the joint efforts in addressing global food security challenges. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in the first 10 months of 2022, total trade turnover of agricultural, forestry and fishery products reached about 82.1 billion USD, a 10.2% year-on-year increase.

As a responsible member of the United Nations and the international community, Viet Nam stands ready to work with other countries and share experiences on food security. Viet Nam hopes that all countries will strengthen international cooperation and share the responsibility of handling this issue.