Vietnam pledges to support NAM initiatives

Vietnam fully supported initiatives aimed at strengthening global governance as underlined by the theme of the 16th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit, said Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh at the closing session of the summit in Tehran, Iran, on August 31.
Vietnam fully supported initiatives aimed at strengthening global governance as underlined by the theme of the 16th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit, said Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh at the closing session of the summit in Tehran, Iran, on August 31.

He said the two-day summit, themed "Lasting peace through joint global governance" was imperative to consolidate processes and mechanisms promoting concerted efforts at national, regional and global levels.

“It requires the continued revitalisation and enhanced effectiveness of the Movement as the principal political platform of the developing countries at multilateral fora. For that purpose, our Movement needs to resolutely pursue our principled positions on important issues related to international peace and security and intensify contribution to reforming the international economic, trade and financial architectures in the interests of global sustainable development and for fair opportunities for development of developing countries,” said the FM.

He went on to say that over the past three years, many NAM member countries have energetically sought ways to deal with their own difficulties while coordinating with each other both at international forums and on the ground to help formulate and implement measures to bring about positive outcomes of common endeavours of the international community.

“NAM’s important contribution in this difficult period greatly adds to the proud traditions of the Movement,” he said, adding that “the Movement’s successes underline its vitality, relevance and empower member countries to redouble our efforts and realise to a greater extent our potential.

The promotion of international peace and security continues to be the priority area of work for our Movement. More than ever, it requires the upholding of the Bandung Principles, especially those of respect of national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-intervention in the internal affairs of States, non-use or threat of use of force and peaceful settlement of disputes,” he said.

As a State Party to the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia and the 1982 UNCLOS, Minh said Vietnam was firmly committed to the peaceful settlement of sovereignty and territorial disputes in accordance with international law.

"We reiterate our principled positions on the importance of the maintenance of peace and stability, and peaceful settlement of disputes in the Eastern Sea (also known as the East Sea), and call for full implementation of the DOC, the UNCLOS and early agreement on the COC," he said.

To deal with the multiple economic and social difficulties, the Vietnamese FM underscored the need to continue implementing both immediate and long-term effective measures to alleviate poverty, reduce inequality, including gender inequality, mitigate the negative impact of climate change, maintain macro-economic balance and promoting sustainable development that is people-centred, inclusive and greener.
 
“It is important to make full use of NAM’s large membership across all continents to help each other advance sustainable growth and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 through, inter alia, sharing expertise, best practices, building capacity, transferring technologies within different innovative frameworks of South-South cooperation and other global partnerships,” he added.

He also told the summit that Vietnam had recorded immense achievements in many areas after 25 years of renewal, yet was confronted with the current global economic turbulences, climate change, epidemics and food and energy insecurity.

Thanks to synchronous and bold measures to restructure the economy with a view to enhancing macro-economic stability and growth quality, the macroeconomic situation has been largely improved, high inflation curbed and economic growth maintained.

Important achievements have also been obtained in the areas of social protection, social equity and progress. Vietnam has achieved many MDGs ahead of the 2015 deadline.

He stressed “Vietnam pursues the foreign policy of independence, peace, cooperation, development, and proactive international integration as an active, reliable and responsible member of the Movement and the international community at large. Along this line, Vietnam has actively promoted friendly and reliable cooperation relations with fellow NAM member countries and other countries around the world.

“Vietnam’s successfully hosting of the Forum “Vietnam - Latin America and the Caribbean: Trade and Investment Partnership for Development” in Hanoi last July and the Second Vietnam – Africa Forum also in Hanoi in August 2010 under the theme “Vietnam – Africa Cooperation for Mutual Sustainable Development” are the most recent examples of our endeavours in that direction,” he said.

After two-days of sitting, the summit adopted the Final Document, reflecting NAM stance and orientations in the fields of security, politics, socio-economics and human rights and international and regional issues.

According to the document, NAM affirms its pursuance of its founding principles and basic principles of international law, including respecting independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-intervention in the internal affairs of States, non-use or threat of use of force and peaceful settlement of disputes.

The document also touched upon the situation of regions worldwide, including Southeast Asia. It reaffirmed NAM stance on the settlement of sovereignty and territorial disputes in the East Sea by peaceful means, supporting principles in the ASEAN Declaration on the East Sea in 1992 and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) in 2002, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, welcoming parties’ efforts to effectively implement DOC as an important step towards the Code of Conduct in the East Sea.-VNA

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