(VOVWORLD) - International support is of great importance to Vietnam’s national liberation struggle and development. Foreign funding and experience in socio-economic development, poverty reduction, disaster response, and environmental protection have contributed to Vietnam’s evolution into a modern industrial country.
In the last more than three decades of renewal and international integration, Vietnam has gained numerous socio-economic achievements and become a lower middle income country. This success is attributed to the assistance of foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs), who continued to provide funding to Vietnam even though it is no longer on the priority list for international aid at the time it became a lower middle income country.
 Don Tuan Phong, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (Photo: VNA) |
Effective assistance in the new period
According to Don Tuan Phong, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations, foreign funding helped Vietnam address challenges in international integration: healthcare, education, agriculture, rural development, the environment, and climate change response. Phong told VOV: “Vietnam welcomed more new foreign NGOs in 2017 than in previous years, outnumbering the NGOs that ended operations. Their total disbursement was quite large. 2017 was the final year of Vietnam’s 5-year Program on mobilizing foreign aids from NGOs and we achieved all the set targets”.
In the last 5 years, foreign NGOs provided Vietnam more than 1.5 billion USD to help the country overcome war aftermath, improve community health, control diseases, protect the environment, increase education and healthcare, and respond to climate change.
Foreign NGOs assist Vietnam’s development
With the motto “Vietnam is a friend and reliable partner of the international community”, Vietnam is expanding its network of thousands of partners and foreign NGOs across the globe, 600 of them maintaining regular operations in Vietnam. These organizations have helped promote Vietnam’s land, people, and culture, and its policies on religion, democracy, human rights, and territorial integrity. Marsha Four, Vice President of the Vietnam Veterans of America, credited people-to-people diplomacy for the flourishing Vietnam-US cooperation. She said during a recent trip to Vietnam: “That is the way for better understanding because there are many differences between east and west. I believe that it’s through people-to-people conversations and work, this effort will provide us hope. And it’s also a very good lesson to the world in general that this kind of thing can happen and work”.
 Padhihari Bijay Kumar, Secretary General of the Indian Society for Cultural Cooperation and Friendship, and Mr. Phong sign a cooperative agreement. (Photo: A.B)
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Padhihari Bijay Kumar, Secretary General of the Indian Society for Cultural Cooperation and Friendship, said during his trip to Vietnam last year: “We’re sure and pleased to stand by the people of Vietnam at any situation. Therefore, we will make our friendship and cooperation an all-round development”.
President Ho Chi Minh once said international solidarity and support are always important to Vietnam in any circumstance. Amid challenges to Vietnam, it enables Vietnam to disseminate its policies, gain trust of other countries, and create a favorable environment for national construction and defense.