New York (VNA) –Vietnam will continue bringing into play its role and making more active andconstructive contributions to the common work of the United Nations in all thethree pillars – security-politics, development and human rights, Prime MinisterPham Minh Chinh has affirmed.

At a meeting with UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed in New York onMay 16 (local time), the PM stressed that the year 2022 is of greatsignificance as it marks the 45th anniversary of Vietnam’s UN membership.

Appreciating the UN’s valuable contributions and support to Vietnam over thepast more than four decades, the PM asked Amina to convey his invitation toSecretary-General Antonio Guterres and other UN leaders to visit Vietnam thisyear to foster multi-faceted cooperation between the two sides.

PM Chinh reiterated Vietnam’s strong commitments to multilateralism and a worldorder based on international law and the UN Charter, as well as the country’ssupport for the UN’s central role in the global administration system, sayingit needs global, all-people, and comprehensive approaches to tackle commonchallenges like epidemics and climate change.

Vietnam backs enhancing relations between the UN, parliaments of its membercountries and the Inter-Parliamentary Union to make use of the support fromlegislative channels for the UN agenda, he continued.

The PM said Vietnam is working hard to achieve the target of becoming anindustrialised country with high income by 2045, and the country hopes for morecompanionship and support from the UN, including in the implementation of thenational digital transformation programme by 2025, with a vision towards 2030.

He also suggested the UN continue to assist developing countries in the COVID-19fight, social welfare and recovery in a greener, more sustainable andself-reliant fashion.

Vietnam is resolved to fulfilling its commitment at the 26th United NationsClimate Change Conference of Parties (COP26), he said, calling for the UN’ssupport in establishing partnerships in energy transition with G7 countries,and building a financial strategy for climate to mobilise resources frominternational development partners.

PM Chinh also suggested the UN give more assistance to Vietnam in fulfilling sustainabledevelopment goals (SDGs), including those on gender equality, clean energy,economic growth and sustainable employment.

Vietnam will actively engage in discussions and consultations at the UN toconsider the implementation of recommendations mentioned in the UNSecretary-General’s report regarding the common agenda, he added.

Highlighting Vietnam’s deployment of forces at UN peacekeeping missions, Chinhsaid the country needs more support from the UN in this regard, and its furthercooperation in the settlement of war consequences, particularly the clearanceof unexploded ordnance left by the war.

Regarding regional and international issues, the PM noted with pleasure theenhanced relationship between the UN and the Association of Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN).

He appealed to the UN to back ASEAN’s centrality in handling regional issues,including maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom ofnavigation and aviation in the East Sea, the peaceful settlement of disputes inaccordance with international law, especially the 1982 United NationsConvention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS), and support Myanmar tostabilise the situation through dialogue and reconciliation, ensuring safetyfor civilians and humanitarian access.

On the situation in Ukraine, the PM affirmed that it isnecessary to push dialogues and negotiations in search of sustainable peacefulsolutions on the basis of respect to the fundamental principles ofinternational law and the UN Charter, respecting and considering the legitimateinterests of the sides concerned. He announced Vietnam has decided to provide500,000 USD to humanitarian activities to support the peple affected by theconflict in Ukraine, and stands ready to make active contributions to diplomaticprocess, dialogues and negotiations, as well as to the reconstruction andrecovery in the country.

For her part, Aminaemphasised that Vietnam is an important partner and a friend of the UN,expressing her hope for more comprehensive, effective relations between the twosides.

The UN official said she was impressed by Vietnam’s socio-economicachievements, its policies and efforts to safely and flexibly adapt to theCOVID-19, and effectively control the pandemic.

She also commended Vietnam’s active and responsible contributions to the UN,especially in the country’s performance as a non-permanent member of the UNSecurity Council for 2020-2021.

Amina praised Vietnam for its strong support for multilateralism, peace andreform at the UN, its responsible participation in UN peacekeeping operations,implementation of SDGs and materialisation of climate commitments, especiallyits pledge at the COP26. She stressed that the UN will pay more attention toVietnam’s development priorities.

The official shared Vietnam’s viewpoints in many regional and internationalissues, including one on the East Sea, and expressed her hope that the ASEAN-UNrelationship will be strengthened for peace, security and prosperity in theregion and the world.

Amina also expressed her belief that Vietnam will carry forward its role inaddressing global issues.

On this occasion, PM Chinh had a meeting with Abdulla Shahid, President of theUN General Assembly, during which he spoke highly of the priorities set by the76th session of the UN General Assembly, covering sustainable development,post-pandemic recovery, climate change response, and UN reform.

Vietnam backs improving the role of the UN General Assembly and enhancingrelations of its agencies, he said.

Briefing Shahid on major policies and guidelines of the Vietnamese Party and Stateon socio-economic development, and pandemic response and adaptation in the newnormal, Chinh suggested the UN step up priorities towards developing countriesin the transfer of vaccine and drug production technologies, medical equipmentand finance in service of their development, among others.

As a coastal country, Vietnam has paid due attention to enhancing maritimesecurity, and the observance of the 1982 UNCLOS, he said, calling on the UNGeneral Assembly President to pay more heed to the matters over which many UNmember countries share concern.

Shahid held that Vietnam is a success story as the country has overcome a rangeof difficulties to record marked achievements in socio-economic development andpandemic fight.

Vietnam is a model of the UN, he continued, praising the country’s significantcontributions to consolidating multilateralism and UN activities, especiallyits efforts in promoting global commitments like the one on climate changeresponse.

The two sides shared the view on the necessity to intensify multilateralism andinternational cooperation to cope with global challenges, especially epidemicsand climate change.

PM Chinh also asked for United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s help inachieving carbon emissions neutrality by 2050 in his meeting with AdministratorAchim Steiner in New York on May 16 (local time).

The leader said he highly values the important role, strategic direction and thecurrent leadership of UNDP in in promoting the implementation of the 2030Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals(SDG).

He thanked the UNDP for the consistent support for Vietnam in reconstruction,national building and socio-economic development over the past 50 years.

PM Chinh welcomed and highly appreciated the UN-Energy Plan of Action whichAchim Steiner personally served as a Co-Chair, with the aim of supportingcountries in equitable energy transition, greenhouse gas emissions reductionand strengthening of climate change response.

Vietnam has adopted the Socio-Economic Development Strategy 2021-30 and iscurrently implementing the Socio-Economic Development Plan 2021-25 to realisethe goal of becoming a developed country with modern industry and upper middle-incomestatus; and becoming developed, high-income country by 2045, he noted.

These are huge and ambitious visions that require a lot of efforts while, onthe other hand, the country is facing many challenges as the COVID-19 pandemicis worsening inequality and exacerbating many existing problems, PM Chinh said.

The Vietnamese Government leader welcomed the cooperation between Vietnam andthe UNDP in recent times, especially in the area of green and sustainabledevelopment and climate change response, and said he will direct agencies toclosely coordinate with the UNDP in technical assistance and policyconsultation for areas of interest like transition into carbon neutrality,green economy, and post-pandemic recovery.

With Vietnam’s recent commitment at the UN COP 26 towards carbon neutrality by2050 which requires a huge investment to the tune of 350-400 billion USD, PMChinh asked the UNDP to continue to provide technical assistance for Vietnam toachieve energy transition partnerships with G7 countries and help with thecountry’s development of a strategy to mobilise climate finances from partners.

For his part, the UNDP official congratulated Vietnam on its great achievementsin recent years as a result of the right guidelines and policies, describing Vietnamas a model in socio-economic development and implementation of the SDGs whichcontribute valuable and practical experiences to the UN and the internationalcommunity.

He said he is especially impressed by Vietnam’s flexible response in the fightagainst the COVID-19, the country’s leading directions and strong commitmentsin green recovery, climate change response, and the breakthroughs ininstitutions, human resources and infrastructure, and development of thedigital economy.

Achim Steiner affirmed that the UNDP is proud to cooperate with Vietnam andalways ready to support, advise on policies, and mobilise resources for the newdevelopment phase of Vietnam, especially in the building of policies andstrategies for socio-economic development towards green economy,sustainability, and inclusiveness; attracting investment, financial, and greentechnology resources to Vietnam to assist in improving the capacity to respondto climate change, and promote an equitable energy transition, and to help withhandling unexploded ordnances.

He also said he hopes that Vietnam will be an Asia-Pacific model for the countriesin need of investment, energy conversion, biodiversity, and environmentalprotection.

Meeting with UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russel in New York on May 16, PM Chinh said Vietnam cherished the cooperation with United Nations Children’s Fund in the past 40 years and its contributions to the global efforts in protecting and caring for children.

The Vietnamese leader noted that from a recipient of humanitarian assistance, Vietnam has become a trusted partner of the UN and UNICEF on many fronts.

Vietnam supports UNICEF Strategic Plan for 2022-25 Towards 2030, including the emphasis on children’s rights like every child has the right to study and life skills, to be protected from abuse and violence, to get access to clean water, hygiene and safe environment, etc. – all of which are also the goals Vietnam are striving towards.

PM Chinh thanks UNICEF for the active help for the country, especially in the face of COVID-19 pandemic, including the transportation and donation of dozens of millions of vaccine doses via the COVAX mechanism as well as medical supplies to help raise the vaccination capacity.

PM Chinh informed the official that Vietnam’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has reached 84 percent of its the population, with nearly 100 percent of the people aged from 12 to older fully vaccinated, thanks in part to UNICEF and development partners’ help in the development of the national expanded immunisation system.

The country is currently rolling out vaccination for children in the 5-12 age group and welcomes UNICEF’s support in this issue.

The Vietnamese Government leader highly valued the major cooperation agendas in the Vietnam-UNICEF cooperation plan 2022-26, saying that they are in line with the Government’s priorities – especially in issues such as climate change, disease response, gender equality, children’s protection.

He said Vietnam is providing 100,000 USD to UNICEF as part of the humanitarian assistance worth 500,000 USD to Ukraine.

For her part, Catherine Russell expressed her delight at the close and effective cooperation between UNICEF and Vietnam over the past four decades, and spoke highly of Vietnam’s socio-economic achievements and realisation of the sustainable development goals in the challenging context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UNICEF chief especially welcomed and highly valued Vietnam's cross-cutting guidelines and policies on the care and protection of children's rights in national programmes and action plans, including items like educational rights and welfare of children in mountainous, remote and isolated areas, and improving the nutrition for children.

She affirmed that UNICEF will continue to actively implement the Vietnam-UNICEF 2022-26 Country Programme to meet the country’s priorities. UNICEF will accompany the organisations in the COVAX initiative to continue to support Vietnam in responding to the COVID-19, especially in the supply of vaccines and domestic production of vaccines, contributing to the protection and bringing a better life to Vietnamese people, especially children, against the pandemic./.