United Nations Resident Coordinator in Vietnam Pauline Tamesis and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (Photo: VNA) Following is the full text of the interview.
Reporter: Could you share with us the significance of the UN Secretary-General’s upcoming visit to Vietnam, particularly occasion of the 45th anniversary of Vietnam’s admission to the UN?
UN Resident Coordinator: In the upcoming visit to Vietnam, at the invitation of the State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the Secretary-General will take part in a ceremony to commemorate the 45th anniversary of Vietnam’s membership of the UN. The Secretary-General will meet with senior leaders of the Communist Party, the Government and the National Assembly, as well as other senior officials. The Secretary-General will also participate in a dialogue with the youth.
The focus of the Secretary-General’s visit is expected to be on climate action, as Vietnam seeks to translate commitments made at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) into action. As one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world, Vietnam is at the frontline of experiencing the devastating impacts of climate change, pollution, and environmental degradation. At the COP26, Vietnam committed to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, phase out coal by 2040s, and other initiatives including ending deforestation and reducing methane gas emissions by 2030. With Vietnam also accelerating its move away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy, the UN has expressed support for Vietnam’s Just Energy Transition Partnership with the Group of Seven (G7) nations.
Reporter: What are your comments on Vietnam’s contributions to the UN over the recent years? Would you please refer for the cooperative prospects between Vietnam and the UN via the official visit of the UN Secretary-General to Vietnam as well as the Southeast Asian nation assuming the non-permanent member of the UN Security Council during 2020-2021 and the upcoming position at the UN Human Rights Council during 2023-2025?
UN Resident Coordinator: In recent years, Vietnam has played an important regional and global role in contributing to maintaining international peace and security. Vietnam has demonstrated itself to be an increasingly active member of the international community, including its contributions to UN Peace Operations and to the UN Security Council's Women Peace and Security Agenda.
Vietnam became a troop-contributing country in 2014, and is a new police-contributing country, with the first group of Vietnamese police personnel deployed on 14 October 2022. Vietnam currently deploys personnel to the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), and United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). In 2014, Vietnam also set up an international peacekeeping training centre, one of four in the Asia-Pacific region.
As a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in the 2020-2021 term, Vietnam was noted for its adoption of the first-ever Presidential Statement on upholding the UN Charter, reaffirming its commitment to multilateralism. As Chair of ASEAN in 2020, Vietnam advanced integration across Southeast Asia, and strengthened the connectivity between ASEAN and the UN through a first-ever meeting on cooperation. With Vietnam’s recent election to the UN Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 term, the UN looks forward to supporting Vietnam in its plans to translate its human rights commitments to actions. The UN welcomes Vietnam’s pledges to strengthen human rights in all its dimensions, prioritize gender equality, and better protect the rights of vulnerable groups.
Reporter: What are your comments on the Vietnamese Government’s commitments and efforts in realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the highest priority of leaving no one left behind? Could you share with us the assistance the UN has provided for Vietnam in realising its set targets in promoting sustainable development and improving people’s lives?
UN Resident Coordinator: Vietnam joined the UN in September 1977, two years after the end of the war in 1975. Over the past 45 years, Vietnam has transformed from a country reliant on UN assistance, to one strongly contributing to regional and global agenda.
The UN provided support in the political, humanitarian, reconstruction and normative work during the early days of Vietnam’s membership to the UN. During the Doi Moi reforms in the 1986-1995 period, the UN actively supported Vietnam by providing key economic advice and providing resources amounting to hundreds of millions of US dollars annually. During the turn of the 21st century, the UN’s support to Vietnam focused on poverty reduction, social policies, aid coordination, state capacity building, and resource mobilisation. Since 2000, the UN shifted its technical assistance for Vietnam to legislative, economic and public administration reforms, as well as the fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), many of which were achieved by Vietnam ahead of 2015.
Post-2015, the UN has continued to support Vietnam in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, through the One Strategic Plan (OSP) of the Government of Vietnam and the UN in 2017-2021 and the new One Strategic Framework for Sustainable Development Cooperation between the UN and the Government of Vietnam for 2022-2026.
The Cooperation Framework 2022-2026 is a commitment between the United Nations and the Government of Vietnam to work together, and in partnership with broader society (non-governmental organisations, academia, the private sector and other development partners). The goal is to contribute towards an increasingly resilient Vietnam that embraces the wellbeing of all people – particularly the most disadvantaged, an inclusive green economy and people-centred governance systems, and where people enjoy equal rights and opportunities. At the core of the framework is our pledge to leave no one behind and to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable people in Vietnam./.
VNA
