UN Secretary-General ‘has special affection’ for Vietnam

General Secretary and President To Lam met with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in New York on September 24. He affirmed the important role of the UN in global governance, promoting multilateralism, international law, promoting development and ensuring equality for all countries.

As someone who took to the streets to protest in support of Vietnam during the previous resistance war, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has “very special feelings” for Vietnam. He highly appreciates Vietnam’s role, position and achievements in socio-economic development.

Secretary-General Guterres highly appreciated Vietnam’s active contributions to important agencies and areas of UN operations, especially peacekeeping and the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals, climate change response, and equitable energy transition.

The Vietnamese leader asked Mr. Guterres to continue promoting cooperation in areas such as energy transition, green transition, digital transformation, and building a digital governance system. The General Secretary and President asked the United Nations to pay attention to the interests of developing countries, including Vietnam.

The two sides agreed to continue efforts, enhance dialogue and promote Vietnam-UN, ASEAN-UN relations, promote ASEAN’s central role in resolving regional issues, especially in maintaining peace and stability in the region, peacefully resolving disputes in the East Sea, especially in compliance with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The two sides also agreed on cooperation measures to promote sustainable development, put the 2030 Agenda back on track, transition to energy, enhance capacity to effectively respond to global challenges, and further enhance Vietnam’s participation in UN peacekeeping activities.

On the same day, General Secretary and President To Lam met with President of the 79th UN General Assembly Philemon Yang and leaders of important UN agencies, including Director General of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Achim Steiner and Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Catherine Russel.

The General Secretary and President affirmed to Mr. Philemon Yang his firm stance in strongly supporting multilateralism, in which the UN plays a central role in global governance and the General Assembly is the most important body. Vietnam is ready to promote tripartite cooperation in agriculture with funding from development partners and Vietnamese experts, techniques, and plant varieties with other countries.

In an exchange with Director General Achim Steiner, General Secretary and President To Lam suggested that UNDP focus on supporting Vietnam in terms of knowledge and resources, promoting science and technology transfer towards building a green economy and circular economy; and supporting Vietnam and the Mekong River Commission in managing and using water resources sustainably and effectively.

The UNDP Director General pledged to support Vietnam in building a green, sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development policy, attracting investment, finance and green technology sources and enhancing self-development capacity, avoiding becoming a market of monopolistic corporations.

At a meeting with UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russel, the General Secretary and President asked UNICEF to provide policy advice and implement support packages to best ensure the care, protection and education of children in areas affected by Typhoon Yagi.

Ms. Russel affirmed that UNICEF will continue to actively implement the Vietnam – UNICEF Country Program for the period 2022 – 2026 to best meet Vietnam’s priorities, support in dealing with the consequences of Typhoon Yagi, especially for schools to reopen soon, and is ready to coordinate in implementing Vietnam’s initiative on International Day of Play on June 11 every year.