President attends UN Peace Keeping Summit

President Truong Tan Sang attended the United Nations Peace Keeping Summit held in New York on September 28 (New York time) as part of the ongoing 70th session of the UN General Assembly.

In his remarks at the event which saw the participation of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, US President Barack Obama and leaders of nearly 50 countries, President Sang affirmed Vietnam’s attendance at the event as one of the troop contributors to UN peace keeping operations (UNPKOs) since 2014.

He informed that Vietnam will soon dispatch level-two field hospital and military engineer unit and continues sending liaison officers and staff officers to UN PKOs.

“History of Vietnam has witnessed unyielding struggles of its people for peace, independence and freedom. We therefore sincerely wish that peoples all over the world would be able to live in peace and enjoy happiness and development,” he said.

He highlighted the role played by UN PKOs in preventing wars and conflicts in many places all over the world over the past 70 years.

“The 21st century poses even more challenging tasks,” the President said, suggesting some points for UN PKOs to be more successful and effective in the future.

“First, it is essential for PKOs to uphold the principles of respect for independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, impartiality, and non-interference in the internal affairs and of prior consent of the parties concerned,” he said.

“Seconds, procedures need to be further reformed to improve the prompt deployment and timely response. At the same time, measures should be adopted to best guarantee security and safety for peace-keeping personnel.

“Third, stronger political will and commitments are required to maintain adequate resources, both financial and human, for PKOs.”

In conclusion, the President thanked the UN and other countries for assisting Vietnam in her efforts to participate in UN PKOs, saying that “we look forward to the continued cooperation and support in the future.”-VNA