The meeting was attended by morethan 100 representatives from UN member countries and observers, including 23ambassadors and head of missions.  

Taking the rotarypresidency of theUNSC in the first month of the year marking the 75th anniversary ofthe UN Charter, Vietnamselected a priority theme of January as adhering to the UN Charter to maintaininternational peace and security. The initiative was meant to contribute to promotingthe adherence to international law, the UN Charter and reiterating theimportance of multilateral cooperation in maintaining international peace andsecurity.

The second initiative of Vietnam duringthe month was the first ever meeting at the UNSC on cooperation between the UNand the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The event provided anopportunity for the international community in general and the UNSC in particularto get an insight into the ASEAN’s role in the region and discuss ways tofurther enhance the collaboration between the UN and the regional bloc.

Vietnam took the occasion to affirmthat as Chair of the ASEAN in 2020 and a non-permanent member of the UNSC, itwill make efforts to promote the comprehensive and effective cooperationbetween the two organizations, with focus on priority fields such as thepeaceful settlement of disputes, preventive diplomacy, disarmament, maintenanceof peace, anti-terrorism, maritime cooperation and maritime security. Also onthe occasion, Vietnamproposed organizing a high-level ASEAN-UN dialogue on sustainable developmenton the occasion of the ASEAN-UN Summit slated for October 2020 in Vietnam.
  
The initiatives aside, Vietnam has made timely reactionss toarising issues that threatened international peace and security, responded tocountries’ ideas and proposals, creatively utilized the UNSC’s rules and practices and promoted consensus sothat the council could make timely decisions.                   

During themonth under the presidency of Vietnam,the UNSC held 30 official activities, including two open debates, eight sessionsto listen to reports and four sessions to approve resolutions, which werebroadcast live on the UN’s media system.   
As UNSCpresident, Vietnamalso held an international press conference and many press briefings on thecouncil’s work. The council adopted 13 decisions, including four resolutionsand a decision on extending the mandate of UN missions, forces and mechanisms,one declaration of the UNSC President, five press statements and two pressreleases. This is the largest number of decisions made by the UNSC during onemonth over many recent years.

At thesession, many delegates said Vietnamhas well performed its role as president of the UNSC right in the first monthof its tenure as a non-permanent member. They said Vietnam has built a reasonableagenda and handled complicated issues in a flexible manner. Many recognized Vietnam’sefforts to regularly provide information on the council’s work to non-membercountries, non-governmental organizations and the media.

On January30 evening, Ambassador Quy hosted a reception to mark the end of the month Vietnam servedas the UNSC president.

Following Vietnam, Belgium will be the next presidentof the UNSC./.  VNA