Chairman of the City People’s Committee attended and delivered a speech at the 31st Diplomatic Conference

In the morning of 15 December 2021, the 31^st Diplomatic Conference was opened in Hanoi and organized by both virtual and in-person formats. Member of the Politburo, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended the conference and delivered a steering speech.

The 31^st Diplomatic Conference, taking place right after the National Conference on Foreign Affairs, was themed "Vietnamese diplomacy of pioneer, comprehensiveness, modernity, proactive adaptation, and successful implementation of Resolution the 13th National Party Congress". The conference focused on the evaluation of global and regional situations, and the concretization of the 13^th national party congress's diplomatic orientation. It also set ways and major tasks of foreign affairs in the upcoming time to contribute substantially to the national development.

At the collective session on diplomacy for the national development, Mr. Tran Viet Truong – Chairman of Can Tho City People's Committee – had his remarks, in which highlighted the foreign affairs achievements of the city in 2021.

Promoting the pioneer of diplomacy, Can Tho City has contacted its foreign counterparts, especially its twin cities, such as Riverside (USA), Kaposvar (Hungary), Okayama (Japan), and Jeollanam-do (Republic of Korea) to support medical equipment for the city's fighting against COVID-19, with total amount of approximately 75,000 USD. In addition, Can Tho has participated in international projects and programs of climate change adaptation, urban development, sustainable development, smart governance in "100 Resilient Cities" (currently "Global Resilient Cities Network"), Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, International Association of French-speaking Mayors, etc.

The Chairman also proposed some solutions to enhance the upcoming foreign affairs tasks. These solutions include: raising awareness of whole political system on the importance of foreign affairs, boosting the institutionalization of the Party and State's steering in foreign affairs tasks, renewing the form and content of foreign affairs activities in the context of economic recovery, and applying information technology and digital platforms in foreign affairs activities, etc.

In making recommendation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the city leader highlighted and kindly requested the continued support in organizing cultural exchanges with international partners, introducing non-governmental organizations to sponsor projects in health, education, agriculture, etc, and facilitating the implementation of MOUs signed between Can Tho and its counterparts. The Chairman also suggested the consideration of provincial external relations' leaders to be assigned in different positions at Vietnamese diplomatic corps abroad.