Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha attended and spoke at the G77 and China Summit.

The Summit is an initiative of Cuba as Chair of the G77 Group and China in 2023. Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha led the Vietnamese delegation to attend the Summit.

Phó Thủ tướng Trần Hồng Hà dự và phát biểu tại Hội nghị thượng đỉnh Nhóm G77 và Trung Quốc

On September 15, the G77 and China Summit opened in Havana, Cuba with the participation of Heads of State, Government and Government Leaders of nearly 130 G77 member countries, the United Nations Secretary-General and leaders of many international organizations.

The Summit is an initiative of Cuba as Chair of the G77 Group and China in 2023. Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha led the Vietnamese delegation to attend the Summit.

With the theme "Current development challenges: The role of science, technology and innovation", the Conference focused on exchanging and proposing solutions to strengthen cooperation, promote the role of the G77 Group and China in promoting economic recovery, and implementing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The conference is an important event taking place right before the High-level Week of the 78th United Nations General Assembly, expected to contribute to raising the voices of developing countries and contributing to the discussion content of the Session.

In his opening speech at the Conference, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez emphasized the strategic significance of promoting solidarity and international cooperation, especially in the fields of science, technology, and innovation to address global challenges.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres emphasized the importance of the G77 and China; called for equality for Southern countries; and asked developed countries to quickly implement their commitments to strengthen preferential financial policies and provide climate finance to support developing countries to overcome current development challenges.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha at the Conference.

Speaking at the main discussion session of the Conference on the afternoon of September 15 (morning of September 16, Vietnam time), Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha congratulated and highly appreciated the role and responsible contribution of the brotherly country of Cuba in its capacity as Chair of the G77 Group in 2023 and China for its efforts to overcome many difficulties and challenges, gathering representatives of 80% of the population, two-thirds of the countries in the world to discuss and strengthen cooperation in response to urgent global issues.

The Deputy Prime Minister assessed that the world is at a historic moment to transform its economic model, in which science, technology and innovation are the universal keys to solving current global challenges. The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that if the key to the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic is a vaccine, then the "vaccine" in the effort to combat climate change is science, technology and green hydrogen; the "vaccine" for global issues is cooperation, solidarity, science, technology and innovation.

Based on Vietnam's practice, the Deputy Prime Minister proposed a number of key cooperation orientations for the G77 Group and China:

Firstly, in the context of increasing global challenges, there is an urgent need to promote international cooperation, including South-South and North-South cooperation, promoting multilateralism, in the spirit of further strengthening international solidarity in solving global problems.

Second, harmoniously resolve intellectual property with ethical categories in the responsibility to share and transfer technology for humanity, together solving global problems such as epidemics, poverty, climate change, and emission reduction.

Within the North-South framework, it is necessary to promote cooperation, take advantage of the capital and technology strengths of developed countries; form credit guarantee mechanisms, provide preferential capital for technology development projects; build legal frameworks for research and development (R&D) to enhance capacity for developing countries.

Within the South-South framework, science and technology should become a key area of cooperation in the new period. The G77 countries hope that China will continue to further strengthen its support and cooperation with the G77 countries in this area.

The Deputy Prime Minister proposed a number of key cooperation orientations for the G77 Group and China.

Third, promote human resource training and development, promote innovation and creativity, and take people as the main subject and center, with young people as the vanguard. The G77 and China need to increase youth exchanges, share start-up experiences, apply science, technology and innovation.

Fourth , create policy and investment frameworks, especially in public-private cooperation, create an ecosystem for research, transfer and development of scientific and technological products between the State, enterprises, scientists and research and training institutions. Focus on promoting research and development in new fields from the green transformation and digital transformation process such as materials technology, quantum, biology, energy, marine technology, smart infrastructure, and new economic forms.

The Deputy Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam strongly supports Cuba's initiatives on organizing the Science and Technology Ministers' Conference every three years and choosing September 16 every year as the Science and Technology Day of Southern Countries.

The Deputy Prime Minister shared that for Vietnam, science and technology are considered a top national policy and a strategic breakthrough. Vietnam is currently one of the four leading countries promoting a fair energy transition model with the goal of becoming a regional green energy transition center. The Deputy Prime Minister expressed his belief that the results of the Conference will contribute to promoting green transformation, digital transformation, and strong application of scientific and technological achievements to create a solid driving force for socio-economic growth and development.

The conference continued until the morning of September 16. Leaders of the countries discussed measures to promote cooperation in science, technology and innovation among southern countries.

*Within the framework of the Conference, the Deputy Prime Minister had many meetings and contacts, including with the Heads of Delegations from Laos, Cambodia, China, Mongolia, Venezuela, Yemen and the United Nations Secretary General.

During the discussion, the countries assessed Vietnam as a successful example in preventing and combating the Covid-19 pandemic, achieving impressive achievements in socio-economic recovery and development. The two sides discussed measures to enhance bilateral cooperation and multilateral mechanisms.

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