Nguyen Minh Vu (C), Assistant to the Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs, speaks at the opening of the Dialogue. (Photo: VNA)

In his opening remarks, Nguyen Minh Vu, Assistant to the Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs, underlined the importance of the Indo-Pacific sea lanes, which boast a huge potential for maritime connection and promise strong economic growth.

He said that as a trading country, Vietnam is strongly committed to navigation safety, navigation and overflight freedom, and unimpeded maritime connectivity in line with international law.

Trade revenue makes up a sizeable portion of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), and any disruption to maritime trade will strongly impact its economy. Vietnam views safeguarding safety, security, and freedom of navigation in line with international law as essential and important, he said. 

Vietnam has pledged to maintain a law-based order and believes that respecting the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) provides a foundation for ensuring peace, stability, and order at sea and is also the most appropriate way for resolving sea-related disputes, according to Mr. Vu.

He went on to say that tasks faced by the 12th Ocean Dialogue include looking into at all aspects of maritime connections, highlighting challenges and barriers, and working out innovative ideas and feasible proposals to ensure the seas and oceans are always physically, procedurally, and culturally open, stable, and sustainable.

The 12th Ocean Dialogue consists of four panel discussions on the connection of key sea routes to ensure global supply chains, sustainable smart seaports as an irreversible trend in the blue economy, maritime infrastructure connectivity in the digital era, and the connection of the green corridor network at sea.