HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc will lead a high-ranking delegation to the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly in New York, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced. The event will take place from Tuesday to next Monday with the theme “Making the United Nations Relevant to All People: Global Leadership and Shared Responsibilities for Peaceful, Equitable and Sustainable Societies”.

The Vietnamese delegation will emphasise its call for strengthened global partnerships for a world of peace, justice and sustainable development for all people. They will highlight the importance of compliance with international law to prevent and peacefully settle disputes with no use or threat of use of force.

Việt Nam will also stress the necessity to promote multilateralism and global partnerships with shared responsibility; to make the UN stronger, more democratic and effective; and to ensure adequate resources for UN operations, especially its support for developing countries.

Việt Nam’s participation in the important event aims to reaffirm the country’s consistent foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, co-operation and development; multilateralisation and diversification of external relations, proactive international integration and its role in multilateral co-operation mechanisms.

Việt Nam officially joined the UN on September 20, 1977, and since then the country’s relationship with the global organisation has witnessed steady progress.

The country has actively collaborated with non-aligned and developing countries to fight for and protect fundamental principles of the UN Charter, such as those on sovereign equality, non-interfere in other countries’ internal affairs, not using or threatening use of force and protecting the interests of developing countries, including Việt Nam.

During Việt Nam’s industrialisation and modernisation processes, the UN has actively supported the country to successfully implement its socio-economic development goals and become one of the states that realised the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The UN’s assistance for Việt Nam focuses on promoting sustainable poverty reduction, protecting the environment, adapting to climate change and rising sea levels, training human resources, building institutions and fostering gender equality.

At the same time, the UN has also made valuable contributions to improving Việt Nam’s production techniques and capacity, the quality of human resources serving the development of sci-technology, and addressing other social issues in Việt Nam.

Việt Nam has used UN as a forum for strengthening relations with its organisations and expanding bilateral and multilateral relations with other countries and international organisations.

Việt Nam served as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2008-09 duration. This was the first time Việt Nam became involved in the most important body of the UN for international peace and security.

Việt Nam actively negotiated and became a full member of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1998. It also entered negotiations and was one of the first countries to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in 1996, and became a member of the Conference on Disarmament in 1996.

The country is also fully and practically involved in the UN’s policy-making mechanisms, and it was also been voted into key roles at many UN agencies, especially the UN Security Council for the 2008-09 term, the UN Economic and Social Council in 1998-2000 and 2016-18 tenures, the UNESCO Executive Board (2015-19), and the UN International Law Commission (2017-21).

Việt Nam has actively joined efforts to promote human rights in the world and proposed a resolution on the impact of climate change for children’s rights. The country also introduced and participated in many initiatives such as protecting the right to work of disabled people, ensuring a safe working environment for workers at sea, enhancing education and combating trafficking of women and girls.

Thanks to its dynamic, active and proactive participation, Việt Nam is credited as ASEAN co-ordinator at the UN Human Rights Council.

Việt Nam has actively participated in the building and implementing of international treaties, as well as contributed to joint efforts to promote the UN’s role as a just and effective global multilateral institution, in order to meet the general aspirations of the mankind.

The co-operation between Việt Nam and the UN is a good example of development co-operation among UN member countries, as well as the role of the UN in promoting international co-operation to address economic, social, cultural and humanitarian issues.

In June 2014, Việt Nam sent its forces to participate in UN peacekeeping operations. The country has so far sent 27 military officers and is preparing to send a second-level field hospital to participate in the work.

At a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Group at the UN, member countries agreed to select Việt Nam as the only candidate of the Asia-Pacific region for a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council for the 2020-21 tenure. This demonstrates the support for and trust of the regional countries in the role and capacity of Việt Nam.

On July 5, 2018, a new common Strategic Plan for the 2017- 21 period was signed between the Vietnamese Government and the 18 UN agencies. This is an important milestone highlighting the strong commitment of the UN and Việt Nam in the National Action Programme to implement the agenda for sustainable development until 2030. — VNS