At a recent plenary meeting on oceans and the law of the sea during the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, a Vietnamese representative to the United Nations highlighted the important role of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

He said that as a signatory of UNCLOS, Vietnam has over the past 25 years abided by the Convention and strengthened international cooperation in enforcing it.

Since signing UNCLOS in 1994, Vietnam has promoted international maritime cooperation in realizing its foreign policy and strengthening its international integration.

It is in line with the Party resolution on enhancing external relations and international maritime cooperation to tap marine potential, address challenges to create peace and stability in the East Sea, and serve national development.

Enhancing international maritime cooperation

Vietnam has established diplomatic ties with 189 countries, including 3 comprehensive strategic partnerships, 13 strategic partnerships, and 12 comprehensive partnerships. Vietnam has boosted international cooperation in several maritime issues to boost economic growth and protect the marine environment.

Vietnam has participated in 28 bilateral and 29 multilateral maritime treaties and cooperated with countries with great marine potential to learn from their experience and use their science, technology, and aid to strengthen maritime management. Vietnam has also participated in conferences, seminars, and forums on seas and islands, marine environmental protection, science and technology cooperation, human resource training, and capacity building.

Vietnam has implemented the UN Sustainable Development Goals including Goal 14 on preservation and sustainable use of seas and oceans. Vietnam has introduced an initiative on establishing thean expanded forum between G7 countries and coastal countries  to boost cooperation in coping with climate change and rising sea levels and protecting the marine ecological environment.

International cooperation expanded

Vietnam has expanded international cooperation in exploiting sea resources, oil and gas, fisheries, maritime tourism, maritime transport, natural resource preservation, environment protection, sea resource surveys, and science and technology. It has worked to attract ODA and other investment resources to invest in infrastructure and disaster prevention in coastal areas, improve capacity building, and cope with climate change.

Vietnam has worked closely with other countries in fisheries, particularly in fighting IUU fishing. Vietnam has signed 4 international treaties and 17 agreements on fishing and signed cooperation agreements on maritime issues with countries like Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Egypt and Russia. Vietnam has signed an agreement on IUU fishing with Australia, and established a hotline with the Philippines in 2015 and a hotline with China in 2013 to share information on encounters at sea.

Vietnamese localities have cooperated with foreign partners to improve capacity and quality in fishing, aquaculture, purchasing and processing. Cooperation in sea tourism has also been strengthened.

Thanks to expanding international maritime cooperation, Vietnam has mobilized resources to promote the maritime economy to serve national development.

Vietnam has used peaceful means in dealing with China’s violation of UNCLOS in the East Sea. Vietnam’s responsibility in enforcing UNCLOS has helped it strengthen political trust, friendship and cooperation with other countries to promote peace and stability in the region and the world.