The statement was confirmed by Ambassador Bui The Giang, Deputy Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN, at the UN General Assembly’s meeting on food and energy crises in New York on July 18.

“As the world’s second largest rice exporter, Vietnam is fully aware of its responsibility at this difficult time,” he said.

According to him, Vietnam has signed rice export contracts with a number of Asian and African partners since the beginning of this year. The Government has adopted measures to increase agricultural production, thus ensuring a sufficient supply of rice for domestic use and for export.

The Vietnamese diplomat acknowledged the efforts made by many countries and organisations in carrying out in-depth research for new sources of energy and maintaining oil production levels. He proposed that the UN develop comprehensive study on the energy crisis and, on that basis, produce a set of policy recommendations at national, regional and global levels.