Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte delivers a speech at a roundtable on “International Law and Order at Sea” (Photo: VNA)

High on the agenda of the discussion were the role of international law and rule-based order at sea for peace and stability in the East Sea. Dr. Pham Lan Dung, DAV’s Acting Director, highlighted the importance of protecting order at sea in line with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and upholding the rules-based spirit.

Dung highlighted new progress in international law to address emerging challenges and disputes at sea through peaceful means, while noting that there are still many cases of disregard for the law of the sea, which threaten security at sea and increase risks of conflicts.

At the sideline of the conference, the DAV held an exhibition of maps dated from the 16th-17th centuries of Vietnam and Southeast Asian countries, which were presented by the Dutch embassy in Hanoi.