Vietnam’s candidacy for the post of UNESCO Director-General demonstrates the country’s sense of responsibility to the international community, even though its candidate did not receive many votes in the first round of voting in Paris on October 9.
![](http://baohoabinh.com.vn/Includes/NewsDetail/10_2017/dt_121020171551_90ea36ed0dc895abd79d7245a75afc4a.jpg)
Ambassador Pham Sanh Chau is the Vietnamese candidate for the UNESCO Director-General position (Photo: VNA)
The Qatari
candidate, Hammad bin Al-Kawari, won the most votes – 19, followed by France’s
Audrey Azoulay and Egypt’s Moushira Khattab. With no candidate winning more
than half of the votes, the UNESCO Executive Board will conduct the second
round of voting at the end of its meeting on October 10.
This is the first time Vietnam has had a candidate in the
running for a leading position of a major UN agency. The election campaign has
helped the country enhance its position and role in the international arena while
strengthening cooperation with other countries.
The Vietnamese candidate, Pham Sanh Chau, has campaigned
in more than 30 member countries of the UNESCO Executive Board, during which
time he introduced Vietnam’s history and culture, together with achievements of
the Doi Moi (renewal) process and potential for international cooperation.
Vietnamese officials also lobbied for support during
their meetings with foreign partners. In response, officials of many countries
spoke highly of Vietnam’s external policy of peace, independence and
international integration, and appreciated the country’s wish to contribute
more to international affairs in general and to UNESCO in particular.
Vietnam marked its joining UNESCO 40 years ago on June 15
this year.
The country has received UNESCO’s assistance in access to
know-how, technology and global funding to contribute to national construction,
as well as to fine-tuning laws, Party and State policies and guidelines.
Source: NDO
The Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the world’s leading developed and emerging economies (G20) recently held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil emphasised the need to reform global governance institutions, especially the United Nations Security Council. The meeting is also an opportunity for G20 to find solutions to a series of hot issues facing the world, such as poverty, climate change, and conflict.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers on December 30 issued a statement on maintaining and promoting stability in the maritime sphere in Southeast Asia.
The world economy has overcome a challenging year, but has proven more resilient than expected. The Financial Times (UK) commented that 2023 was a positive year for the world economy as the economic surprise index collated by Citigroup shew that actual data have underwhelmed economists’ predictions for much of the past months. These economic trends are the basis for optimism about the world economy in 2024.
Laos has announced the theme and logo for its the Chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2024.
Vietnam was elected a Vice President of the 42nd session of the UNESCO’s General Conference, representing the Asia-Pacific, on November 8.
Since the "blockbuster" ChatGPT was launched a year ago, the prospects for the development of artificial intelligence (AI), as well as concerns about the risks from this technology, have become hot topics in the technology world.