Ambassador Bui The Giang, Deputy Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations, has affirmed the country’s efforts to implement a commitment on the goal of a “society for all”.

“We are prepared to work responsibly and dedicatedly for the accomplishment of the commitment, which all governments of the world made in Copenhagen 15 years ago and in New York just two weeks ago at the High-level Plenary Meeting on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” Ambassador Giang said at a meeting on social development of the third Committee of 65th Session of the General Assembly in New York on October 4.

Giang said Vietnam took note of the UN MDG Report 2010, which announces that the overall poverty rate is expected to fall to 15 percent by 2015, and that this translates into around 920 million people living under the international poverty line – half the number in 1990.

The ambassador recognised signs of economic recovery in certain parts of the world which, he said, were opening up some hope for inhabitants of the planet.

He said, however, that “It’s alarming to realise that an estimated 75 million additional people became undernourished worldwide, that another 100 million people were added to the number of undernourished, and that the number of hungry in the world has pushed over the 1 billion mark in 2009.

It’s similarly worrisome that 64 million people will have been pushed into poverty by the economic meltdown by the end of 2010, on top of the 130-155 million people who already became poor as a result of the food and energy crisis, he stressed.

The diplomat shared the Secretary-General’s view that policies to achieve the three pillars of social development, namely, poverty eradication, full employment and social integration, are intertwined and mutually supportive, and should be implemented in parallel.

“We concur with the six general principles for the promotion of social integration and the six-point human rights framework contained in the Secretary-General’s Report,” Giang said.

“We, at the same time, believe that these principles and framework must be localised into national strategies, programms and plans, taking into account the specific historical, cultural and ethnic conditions as well as the level of development of a country, if they are to be effective,” he added.

Ambassador Giang underlined the imperative for developed countries to honour their commitments of official development assistance (ODA) for developing countries as an important means for the latter to boost the social integration and development process.

He presented the Vietnamese Government’s recent policies and measures to foster economic recovery and address social impacts of the global economic and financial crises, including the government’s offer of loans to the poorest at preferential rates to encourage trade and production in rural areas.

“As a result, the Vietnamese economy has continued its recovery trend,” he said.

For the first eight months of this year, Vietnam recorded a GDP growth rate of over 6 percent and which is expected to reach 6.7 percent for the whole year. The country’s exports increased by 19.7 percent and its rate of ODA disbursement increased by 13.5 percent year-on-year. Foreign Direct Investment inflows went up by 3.6 percent and are likely to be higher than planned for the whole year.

“Together with our own national efforts, we badly need greater and more effective cooperation and assistance from all other members of the international community of which the UN can and should play a key role,” he emphasised./.