Vietnam’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) Ambassador Le Hoai Trung, on behalf of ASEAN member nations, has urged the organization to support the South-South cooperation.

Ambassador Trung made the statement at the debate themed “Operational Activities for Development” of the UN’s Financial and Economic Committee (Second Committee) within the 68 th UN General Assembly on October 14.

He expressed his hope that sponsors will strengthen financial assistance, as well as transfer knowledge and technology to serve the cooperation process.

The Vietnamese diplomat spoke highly of the UN’s role and support in development activities, encouraging the organisation, together with ASEAN, to boost the implementation of the two sides’ joint statement on comprehensive cooperation, including prioritising the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals and building an ASEAN Community.

He also praised the efforts to reform the UN development system in a more effective way, affirming the importance of the Government’s mastership.

He called for sponsors to sustain sources for development activities, especially to deal with increasingly diverse challenges.

During the debate, developing countries expressed their worry about the decrease in the UN’s sources for development activities, which has caused negative impacts on the implementation of development programmes, particularly in the most underdeveloped countries.

Delegates from developing countries agreed that the large disparity between regular and irregular sources leads to instability in building the budget, while those from developed nations affirmed the need to improve the use of the sources by different methods based on a resolution on Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review of Operational Activities for Development.-VNA