On the afternoon of June 12th, 2013, Prof.Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thang, member of the Party Central Committee, President of Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) received a delegation from Diplomatic Academy of Singapore headed by Mr. Ampalavanar Selverajah, Titular Ambassador, Director of Singapore’s Diplomatic Academy. Mr. Selverajah was accompanied by a number of counselors and secretaries of the Singapore Embassy in Vietnam.
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Prof.Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thang, Member of the Party Central Committee, President of VASS and Mr. Ampalavanar Selverajah, Titular Ambassador, Director of the Diplomatic Academy of Singapore |
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Joining the President of VASS to receive the Ambassador, Director of the Diplomatic Academy of Singapore were Dr. Cu Chi Loi (Director-General, Institute of American Studies), Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Duy Dung (Director-General, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies), Dr. Nguyen Binh Giang (Deputy Director-General, Institute of World Economy and Politics), Dr. Vu Hung Cuong (Director-General of Center for Information Technology Application, Deputy Director-General, Department of Scientific Management), and Ms. Luu Anh Tuyet (MA, Deputy Director-General, Department of International Cooperation).
At the meeting, Prof. Nguyen Xuan Thang briefly introduced the mission and functions of VASS. He emphasized that VASS is a research agency of the Vietnamese Government responsible for carrying out basic research in the social sciences and providing justifications for the Vietnamese Government in defining strategies for building up socio-economic stability. He also outlined VASS’s role as a training institution producing high-quality human resources for the social sciences in Vietnam at master and doctoral levels. Prof. Thang explained that currently VASS has nearly 2,000 staff, of which over 800 have master degrees or higher, and is organized into 4 professional blocs/research institutions: 1) the humanities research institutions such as the Institute of Literature, the Institute of History, the Institute of Anthropology and the Institute of Archaeology; 2) the research institutions of social sciences such as the Institute of Philosophy, Vietnam Institute of Economics, the Institute of State and Law, the Institute of Human Studies and the Institute of Sociology; 3) the research institutions of international studies such as the Institute of World Economy and Politics, the Institute of European Studies, the Institute of
American Studies, the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies, the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, and the Institute of Chinese Studies; and 4), the research institutions of regional studies such as the Southern Institute of Social Sciences, and the Institute of Social Sciences in the Central Highlands.
Prof. Thang also introduced a number of the programs and major projects implemented by VASS, giving special emphasis to the training activities of the Graduate Academy of Social Sciences (GASS), and including VASS’s role in in coordinating and managing training activities at GASS in particular and at other training programs around the country in general.
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Delegations of VASS and Singapore’s Diplomatic Academy posed for a commemorative photograph after the meeting
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Following this, Mr. Selverajah expressed a deep concern for the training of diplomatic staff in Vietnam. The Titular Ambassador then described the formation and development of the Diplomatic Academy of Singapore and suggested that VASS and the Diplomatic Academy of Singapore should conduct more joint activities together as training institutions, especially in providing human resources for the field of international relations in both countries.
Prof. Thang expressed a desire to establish and strengthen cooperation in training and teaching between VASS and the Diplomatic Academy of Singapore, for example by organizing short-term training courses at GASS, inviting distinguished and experienced experts/scholars to teach or give presentations on topics of mutual interest, and facilitating learning and study exchanges between both sides with the support of the Singapore Embassy in Vietnam.
The meeting took place in an open, solemn atmosphere. VASS and the Diplomatic Academy of Singapore came to agreements on many issues, promising many possibilities for cooperation in the near future.
Pham Vinh Ha
