Improvement of consular services to continue: official

Talking to the Vietnam News Agency, Doan Hoang Minh, Acting Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA)'s Consular Department, said most countries removed travel restrictions in 2022, and Vietnam was one of the first to reopen its borders, in mid-March. Since then, the number of people going abroad for working, studying, tourism, and business purposes as well as those entering the country has bounced back strongly.

Highlighting the ministry's determination to build a comprehensive, modern, professional, clean, and strong diplomatic sector, he said that in the current context, as the government is stepping up administrative procedure reforms and demanding ministries and sectors boost measures for post-pandemic economic recovery, the ministry is deeply aware of its responsibility for continuing to improve the quality of consular services.

Diplomatic staff members in Vietnam and abroad will work with the highest sense of responsibility and consider people's satisfaction as the meter of their performance, he said.

As consular duties are increasingly diverse and complex, a task identified by the MoFA is to press on with reforming the performance of consular services, Minh noted, elaborating that the ministry views institutional building as the basis and the perfection of rules and processes and administrative reform the breakthrough step.

It also attaches importance to personnel training and IT application to the consular work, the official added.

In the recent past, to help promote economic diplomacy for national development in the post-COVID-19 period, the MoFA has ordered domestic relevant agencies, including the Consular Department and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of External Relations, and overseas representative offices to take concerted and all-round measures to strongly reform consular services.

In particular, they have provided constant updates about other countries' travel, residence, exit, and entry policies to propose ways for creating the best possible conditions for travel and business activities between Vietnam and other countries; kept raising staff members' awareness; arranged capable personnel and boosted IT application for public services; listened to people's opinions to make appropriate adjustments to consular procedures; and coordinated with domestic and overseas agencies to tackle obstacles to citizens' residence and mobility, Minh went on.

He expressed his belief that with strong determination and concrete measures, the consular work in 2023 will continue bringing into play its role as an important part of the diplomatic sector, thus meeting people and enterprises' growing demand in the new context.

Source: VNA