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Vietnam, IOM ink cooperation agreement
  • | Vietnamplus | August 20, 2010 08:53 AM

Vietnam and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) inked a cooperation agreement in the capital city of Hanoi on Aug. 19, opening a new chapter for the two sides’ ties that are growing robustly.

The signatories were Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Thanh Son and IOM Director General William Lacy Swing.

Earlier, the IOM Director General was received by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem.

Deputy PM Khiem emphasised that the elevation of the former agreement signed nearly 20 years ago to the accord is necessary and demonstrates the growing ties between Vietnam and the IOM.

By signing the accord, Vietnam confirms its consistent policy of promoting legal migration and resolutely combating illegal migration and human trafficking and at the same time protecting the rights and legitimate interests of Vietnamese migrants, Khiem said.

He acknowledged and highly valued IOM’s support for Vietnam in managing migrants who have moved somewhere else for a development reason, to ensure that these people’s migration is safe and in order and their dignity, rights and legitimate interests are respected.

The Vietnamese official spoke highly of and pledged continued support for the IOM Director General’s reforms, especially those relating to promoting the organisation’s member countries, enhancing its capacity and streamlining its apparatus to enable the organisation to operate more effectively for the sake of its member countries and migrants’ benefits.

He pledged that Vietnam will continue to step up cooperation with and actively participate in IOM’s activities in order to contribute practically and efficiently to mutual efforts in migration management.

The IOM Director General agreed that the signing of this cooperation agreement has elevated the two sides’ relationship to a new height.

He pledged that his organisation will work actively with Vietnam in deploying the agreement effectively to better serve Vietnam ’s needs in managing migration.

The IOM will spare no effort to maximize migration’s positive impacts on Vietnam ’s social development through cooperation fields that have been prescribed in the agreement, Swing said.

He also referred to Vietnam ’s growing role in the international arena and the country’s increasingly enthusiastic involvement in the management of international migration.

The official expressed his organisation’s willingness to help Vietnam manage migration in the national, regional and global scale and highly valued the Vietnamese foreign ministry’s support for IOM’s activities in Vietnam in the one-UN programme.

Vietnam became IOM’s 122 nd member in 2007.

Earlier in 1991, IOM posted a representative mission in Hanoi following the two sides’ agreement.

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