45 years of Vietnam-UN ties: Reliable partnership for peace, cooperation, development
WVR - On the occasion of the 45th anniversary of Vietnam’s admission to the United Nations, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son wrote an article titled "45 years of Vietnam-UN ties: Reliable partnership for peace, cooperation, development".
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| Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son. (Photo: Tuan Anh) |
The United Nations (UN) is the world's largest multilateral organization with the mission of maintaining international peace and security, promoting friendly cooperation and development of nations in the world. In his article, the FM underlined that cooperation with the UN has always held an important position in the foreign policy of Vietnam’s Party and State, reflecting the will and aspirations of Vietnamese people and the world's people to strive for peace, national independence, democracy, cooperation and development.
In January 1946, President Ho Chi Minh on behalf of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam sent a letter to the President of the United Nations General Assembly expressing the wish for Vietnam to join the United Nations. Experiencing historical ups and downs, on September 20, 1977, Vietnam officially became the 149th member of the United Nations. The Minister noted that since then, Vietnam has always been a reliable partner, an active member that made many important contributions to the implementation of UN missions.
In the Renewal (Doi moi) cause, cooperation between Vietnam and the United Nations has developed strongly, deeply and effectively. UN programs and projects have greatly contributed to the reform and international integration of Vietnam, especially the development of socio-economic infrastructure, education and health care services, poverty reduction, and environmental protection, along with the sharing of development experience in various areas, he added.
He also stated that due to the promotion of its self-reliance and effective use of external resources, Vietnam has gained many important development achievements that have been appreciated by the United Nations and the international community. Notebly, Vietnam showed early completion of five out of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), effective implementation of the "Delivering as One" reform initiative of the UN development system, while making efforts to finish the Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development and fulfilling its commitments on carbon neutralisation by 2050...
During the hardest COVID-19 period, Vietnam received great assistance in vaccines and medical equipment from the United Nations, through the World Health Organization (WHO) and the COVAX Facility, making an important contribution to effective control, safe adaptation towards repelling the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through the tripartite cooperation model with the assistance of the United Nations, Vietnam has actively shares its knowledge and experience learnt from the renewal process with other developing countries, especially in the field of economic reform, international integration, agricultural development, health care and education...
Going through many years of wars, Vietnam deeply appreciates the value of peace. The minister quoted UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres as commenting that Vietnam is an important factor of peace and stability in the region and the world. The country has persistently upheld international law and fundamental principles of the UN Charter, striving to promote the search for long-term and comprehensive solutions to conflicts.
At the United Nations, especially during the tenures of non-permanent member of the UN Security Council (in the 2008-2009 term and 2020-2021 term), Vietnam proposed many initiatives and solutions to global issues, such as the International Day of Epidemic Preparedness 27 December, the establishment of the Group of Friends on the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); promoted the settlement of landmine and bom consequences, the protection of essential infrastructure in conflict, and the cooperation between the UN and ASEAN in maintaining regional peace and security.
To date, Vietnam has sent 512 military officers and four police officers to the UN peacekeeping missions in Africa and UN headquarters, not only affirming its sense of responsibility to the international security, but also promoting the reputation of the Vietnamese soldiers as “envoys of peace and friendship”.
In the field of human rights, Vietnam is upholding dialogue and cooperation, promoting the spirit of humanity and compassion, putting the people at the center of development, sharing achievements and experiences in protecting fundamental human rights, and ensuring justice and social progress. After completing the 2014-2016 term as a member of the UN Human Rights Council, Vietnam is running for the 2023-2025 term to continue its contribution to the promotion of human rights in the world, the FM underlined.
With the achievements gained during the renewal (Doi moi) cause and the positive contributions made to the common efforts of the international community, the Minister held that Vietnam has been trusted and elected to many important UN organizations such as the UN Security Council (2008-2009 and 2020-2021 terms), UN Socio-Economic Council (1998-2000, 2016-2018 terms), UN Human Rights Council (2014-2016 term), International Law Commission (2017-2021 and 2023-2027 terms), Executive Board of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) (2000-2002 term), the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (1978-1983, 2001-2005, 2009-2013, 2015-2019, 2021-2025 terms)...
With a high sense of responsibility and substantive contributions to the common work of the UN, Vietnam has clearly shown the position, identity and resoluteness of Vietnam's diplomacy in the Ho Chi Minh era, strongly spreading the message of an independent, self-reliant, innovative, peace-loving, international law respecting, reliable, sincere and responsible member to the international community.
Partnership for peace, sustainable development and a better future for humanity
According to Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, the cooperation between Vietnam and the UN over the past 45 years has made significant contribution to strengthening a peaceful and stable environment, promoting comprehensive and extensive international integration, and taking advantage of external resources for the development of the country, improved Vietnam's position and prestige in the international arena.
He stressed that the 13th Party Congress continued to affirm the important position of the UN in the foreign policy of the Party and State of Vietnam and define the need to enhance multilateral diplomacy, actively engage in and promote Vietnam's role in multilateral mechanisms, especially the ASEAN, the UN and important cooperation frameworks and mechanisms of strategic importance, suitable to the requirements, capabilities and conditions of the country.
Accordingly, Vietnam continues to attach great importance to and strengthen cooperation with the UN; staying persistent to independence and self-reliance, ensuring the highest interests of the country and nation on the basis of the UN Charter and fundamental principles of international law, equality, cooperation and mutual benefit; making efforts to promote the core, leading and mediation role in international issues when conditions permit, while continuing to promote multilateral cooperation, collaboration between the UN and regional organizations, including ASEAN, to jointly find long-term solutions to security and development challenges in the world. “We also proactively and actively perform our responsibilities at UN organizations and agencies that Vietnam was elected to, and at the same time, set up plan and roadmap to prepare for candidacy for important UN positions”, he stated.
He added that in addition to continue improving institutions and strengthening coordination among agencies and organizations in the political system, it is also very importan to focus on training, fostering, enhancing capacity for cadres who work in a comprehensive, professional and modern multilateral diplomacy, and at the same time, to have relevant policies to increase Vietnamese diplomats working in UN organizations.
The world situation has been changing rapidly and complicatedly, but the big trend and the earnest aspiration of nations and peoples have always been to maintain peace and expand cooperation fo development. With the motto of being proactive, positive, sincere, reliable and responsible, Vietnam will keep up its endeavor to contribute to strengthening the central role of the United Nations in the global governance system, thus working together for sustainable peace, independence of states, democracy, development cooperation and social progress, the Minister affirmed.
(Source: WVR)
