UN Under-Secretary-General Jean-Pierre Lacroix meets with Ambassador Đặng Hoàng Giang, Permanent Representative of Việt Nam to the United Nations. — VNA/VNS Photo

NEW YORK — UN Under-Secretary-General Jean-Pierre Lacroix has lauded Việt Nam’s active engagement and strong performance in UN peacekeeping activities as well as the country’s commitments to implementing UN targets, especially the ratio of female Vietnamese peacekeepers.

Lacroix, who visited Việt Nam last month, made the praise while meeting Ambassador Đặng Hoàng Giang, Permanent Representative of Việt Nam to the United Nations (UN) on January 16 to seek measures to further promote cooperation between Việt Nam and the UN.

The UN Deputy Secretary-General said that he witnessed and was impressed by the Vietnamese Engineering Unit’s successful completion of difficult tasks assigned at the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA).

He said that the UN is willing to support Việt Nam during the process of preparing forces, training and carrying out pre-feasibility assessment as well as building the necessary capacity.

He said that the two sides should coordinate closely in defining areas for cooperation, which are of the UN’s demands and Việt Nam’s experience and capacity, thus further bolstering the Việt Nam-UN partnership.

Ambassador Giang thanked the UN for assisting Việt Nam’s efforts in UN peacekeeping.

He underlined that promoting cooperation with the UN, including the increase of its involvement in peacekeeping activities, is one of the priorities in Việt Nam’s external relations. Việt Nam will continue to support targets and programmes of the UN within its capacity, including its commitments to increasing the number of women peacekeepers joining peacekeeping operations.

On the occasion, Ambassador Giang proposed that Under-Secretary-General Jean-Pierre Lacroix and UN agencies continue to give Việt Nam support in building capacity, especially for military and police forces joining peacekeeping operations, as well as other practical assistance, thus enabling Việt Nam to better meet requirements and demands of the UN in carrying out UN peacekeeping operations. — VNS