Hanoi (VNA) – UN Under-Secretary General Jean-Pierre Lacroix on June 13 commended Vietnam’s increasingly active and effective engagement in peacekeeping operations and reiterated his consistent support for the country's efforts to enhance its cooperation with the UN in this field.
Meeting with Sen. Lieu. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien, Deputy Minister of National Defence in Hanoi, he appreciated the capability and professionalism of Vietnam’s peacekeeping forces, expressing confidence that Vietnam will continue to make effective contributions to and play an increasing role in joint UN missions.
For his part, Chien stated Vietnam remains committed to expanding its participation in UN peacekeeping operations through deploying additional units such as mechanised infantry, communications, airport support teams, and others.
He said that these units will be registered with the UN’s Peacekeeping Capability Readiness System (PCRS) in accordance with procedures, ensuring readiness for deployment to field missions. Vietnam also intends to nominate personnel for senior positions within the UN system, he said.
The Deputy Minister thanked the UN for accompanying Vietnam during the past nearly 50 years since the country became a member state, and praised Lacroix’s significant contributions to global peacekeeping efforts, particularly through his leadership in advancing the Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) initiative and its successor, A4P+, for the 2021–2023 period.
Chien expressed gratitude to the UN and the Under-Secretary-General in particular for their continued support and efforts to strengthen and expand cooperation in recent years. He expressed a hope that the UN and Lacroix personally will continue to provide guidance and assistance to enable the Vietnam People’s Army to make even more effective contributions to UN peacekeeping operations.
Lacroix, in turn, commended Vietnam’s increasingly active and effective engagement in peacekeeping operations. He reiterated the UN’s full support for Vietnam’s efforts to deepen cooperation and broaden its contributions to global peace and stability.
Highlighting Vietnam’s increasingly active and effective participation in UN peacekeeping operations, he affirmed the UN’s continued support for Vietnam and its efforts to deepen and expand cooperation in this field.
The UN Under-Secretary-General also commended the capability and professionalism of Vietnam’s peacekeeping forces, expressing confidence that Vietnam will continue to make meaningful contributions and play an expanded role in joint UN missions.
Since June 2014, the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence has successfully deployed nearly 1,100 personnel to UN peacekeeping operations and the UN headquarters, in both individual and unit-based formats.
Individually, Vietnam has sent approximately 153 officers to serve as staff officers and military observers at UNMISS (South Sudan), MINUSCA (Central African Republic), UNISFA (Abyei), and at the UN headquarters in New York.
In terms of unit deployments, Vietnam has operated six level-2 field hospitals at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) since October 2018. Since May 2022, three engineering teams have been dispatched to the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei.
Notably, Vietnam has one of the highest proportions of female personnel participating in UN peacekeeping missions, with women making up over 16% of its deployed forces, well above the global average. The Ministry of National Defence has committed to maintaining and increasing female participation, targeting a rate of over 20% for individual roles and over 15% for unit-based deployments by the 2025–2030 period./.
