Ambassador Đặng Hoàng Giang, Permanent Representative of Việt Nam to the United Nations. —VNA/VNS Photo

NEW YORK — Ambassador Đặng Hoàng Giang, Permanent Representative of Việt Nam to the United Nations (UN), has highlighted the importance of information sharing in improving the efficiency of the operations of the UN General Assembly (UNGA).

Speaking at the 77th-tenure UNGA discussion on this issue on Monday (US time), Giang emphasised the need to improve the performance of the UNGA, and to ensure transparency in the making of decisions and resolutions.

Measures to ensure continuity between the UNGA Presidency terms as well as criteria for gender equality and geographic representation when appointing the UN’s leading positions should be taken into account, he stressed.

The UNGA should also prioritise efforts to find solutions and support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, added Giang.

At the event, other countries shared solutions to improve the UNGA’s performance, including the removal of inappropriate items and the extension of the date of periodical reviews and discussions of topics and resolutions to have more substantive exchange contents to strengthen the coordination mechanism between the UNGA and other UN agencies.

Việt Nam calls for funding boost for Palestine refugees

Việt Nam called on countries and donors to maintain and increase their financial support to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), at a meeting of the UN Special Political and Decolonisation Committee (Fourth Committee) in New York on Monday.

Counsellor Đỗ Ngọc Thúy, a representative of the Vietnamese permanent mission to the UN, stressed the need to ensure funding for Palestine refugees and to contribute to stabilising the situation in the area.

However, the support should not be considered a replacement of a long-term solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, he stressed.

The most important was to guarantee legitimate rights and interests of the Palestinians by establishing a Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as the capital city, and to live in peace next to the State of Israel, with border lines recognised internationally on the basis of the pre-1967 borders and relevant resolutions of the UN.

Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the UNRWA, said that for far too long, the agency had been expected to manage chronic underfunding while at the same time delivering on its mandate.

Emphasising that the UNRWA, which relies on voluntary contributions, is short by about US$100 million every year, he appealed for more funds so that it could implement its digital strategy, deliver on environmental sustainability commitments, and replace obsolete basic assets while also promoting the rights and well-being of Palestine refugees.

The Fourth Committee considers a broad range of issues covering a cluster of five decolonisation-related agenda items, the effects of atomic radiation, questions relating to information, a comprehensive review of the question of peacekeeping operations as well as a review of special political missions, the UNRWA, Israeli practices and settlement activities affecting the rights of the Palestinian people and other Arabs of the occupied territories, and international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space. — VNS