Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (L) meets with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York on January 9

The Vietnamese official chaired a working luncheonof the UN Security Council with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and hadbilateral meetings with the UN Secretary-General, Administrator of the UNDevelopment Programme (UNDP) Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UN WomenPhumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Foreign Minister of Nicaragua Denis Moncada, ForeignMinister of Timor Leste Dionisio Babo Soares, Deputy Foreign Minister ofUkraine Sergiy Kyslytsya, and former President of Ireland Mary Robinson.

The meetings took place on the sidelines of anopen debate of the UN Security Council chaired by Vietnam.

At these events, officials of the UN andcountries valued Vietnam’s international stature as it is concurrently servingas a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council and ASEAN Chair in 2020.

They said the open debate organised by Vietnamwas successful with the participation of many UN member states. They alsohighly regarded the debate’s focus on the UN Charter, which is highly topicalat present and meet countries’ attention amidst complex developments in theworld situation.

At the working session between the UN SecurityCouncil and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, participants discussed thecooperation between the council and the UN Secretariat, along with some issuesof common concern.

Deputy PM Minh affirmed that the maintenance ofcontact and close coordination between the Security Council and the Secretariathas helped the council be updated with information in a timely andcomprehensive manner, thus devising effective measures to ease tensions,prevent conflicts, peacefully resolve disputes, and better contribute to themaintenance of regional and global peace and security.

At the bilateral meeting with Minh,Secretary-General Guterres applauded the Vietnam-UN cooperation, as well as thecountry’s development achievements and commitments to realising the SustainableDevelopment Goals.

He said Vietnam holds a special standing and isan important factor contributing to peace and stability in the ASEAN region. Heaffirmed his support for the settlement of disputes in the East Sea by peacefulmeans and in line with international law.

Deputy PM Minh appreciated the UN’s cooperationand assistance for Vietnam’s development, underlining the wish to enhance tiesin the time ahead. He asked the UN and the Secretary-General to continue payingattention to the East Sea situation to help promote the peaceful settlement ofdisputes.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (L) and UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner (Photo: VNA)

At the meeting with UNDP Administrator AchimSteiner, Minh thanked the UNDP for its support for Vietnam over the last 40years, proposing it provide more counselling for the country, especially ineconomic restructuring, climate change response, realisation of the SustainableDevelopment Goals, and sustainable use and management of the Mekong River’swater resources.

Congratulating Vietnam on its recentattainments, Steiner said the country is a model in economic development, andthe UNDP is ready to give support and policy advice during the new developmentstage of Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Executive Director of UN WomenPhumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka hailed the significant outcomes Vietnam has obtained inpromoting gender equality, particularly women’s economic empowerment.

She affirmed that UN Women will keep workingclosely with and helping Vietnam to organise important events marking the 25thanniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action on gender equality, as well asothers on women, peace and security.

For his part, Deputy PM Minh asked UN Women tocontinue support Vietnam to promote the themes on women, peace and securitywithin the UN framework, and to boost gender equality and women’s empowermentin the coming time.

At another meeting, Foreign Minister of NicaraguaDenis Moncada expressed his belief that the Southeast Asian nation willsuccessfully serve as both a non-permanent member of the UN Security Counciland ASEAN Chair.

The Nicaraguan and Vietnamese officials agreedto step up political dialogue in an appropriate point of time and consider thenegotiation on a trade and investment framework agreement to create a legalframework for bilateral cooperation.

Minh also took this occasion to convey PartyGeneral Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong’s invitation to visitVietnam to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (R) and Foreign Minister of Timor Leste Dionisio Babo Soares (Photo: VNA)

Talking to Deputy PM Minh, Foreign Minister ofTimor Leste Dionisio Babo Soares congratulated Vietnam and highly valued itsgrowing international role. He voiced his country’s wish to become a member ofASEAN and increase bilateral collaboration with Vietnam, noting the readinessto support activities of Vietnamese businesses, including Viettel, in TimorLeste.

Minh asked Timor Leste to soon ratify the tradeagreement between the two countries so as to create a legal basis for boostingtrade connections.

The two sides also agreed to strengthencooperation and share their stances at regional and international forums,including the UN.

Meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine SergiyKyslytsya, Deputy PM Minh offered heartfelt condolences to the UkrainianGovernment and people, and the families of the victims in the serious planeincident in Iran on January 8.

The officials discussed measures to advancetheir countries’ cooperation, including organising delegation exchanges at alllevel, holding annual political consultations, and foster economic and tradelinks which are developing well.

The Ukrainian side expressed the hope tocoordinate with Vietnam at multilateral forums, particularly the UN, andenhance ties with ASEAN, saying the country wishes to join the Treaty of Amityand Cooperation in Southeast Asia.

At another event, former President of IrelandMary Robinson, who chairs of the Elders – a group of senior global leaders atthe UN, spoke highly of Vietnam’s priorities at the UN Security Council such asclimate change, security, and protection of women and children in conflicts.She stressed the importance of multilateralism and learned about Vietnam’spriorities during its ASEAN Chairmanship Year.

Robinson and Minh also exchanged views on globaland regional matters of common concern like the Middle East issue and thenuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula./.VNA