After briefing the continuous development of the comprehensive cooperation between Việt Nam and the UN over the past 30 years, PM Dũng stressed that Việt Nam is increasingly playing an active role in the organization’s policy-making mechanisms in all fields, from political issues, peace and security, disarmament to poverty reduction, food security, gender equality, and HIV/AIDS control. Việt Nam has proposed and proactively piloted the model “One UN Initiative in Việt Nam”, obtaining many remarkable initial results. This shows the country’s practical contributions to the process of the UN reform.

The Government chief also stated that the 30-year Việt Nam-UN relationship could be considered as an exemplary partnership for common goals. “Việt Nam always wants to cooperate with the UN for peace, stability, and development of every country and the whole world,” PM Dũng concluded.

Addressing the ceremony, Mr. John Hendra, UN Resident Coordinator in Việt Nam, congratulated Việt Nam on its election to the UN Security Council for the 2008–09 term. He expressed his confidence that the country’s new seat is a tremendous honor, a great opportunity and a considerable responsibility for Việt Nam.

“The UN is very proud to have partnered with Việt Nam for 30 years,” said Mr. John Hendra. He highly valued Việt Nam’s extraordinary development and went on to say that the country would achieve most of the Millennium Development Goals before 2015.

The UN Resident Coordinator confirmed that the UN would stand ready to play its part in helping Việt Nam address key challenges facing the country as it makes the transition from low to middle-income status and raises the living standards for its poorest citizens.

By Xuân Hồng