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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