A session of UNSC (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – As President of the United Nations
Security Council in April 2021, Vietnam will organise a high-level open debate
on the role of regional organisations in promoting confidence-building and
dialogue in conflict prevention and resolution on April 19 via both in-person
and online forms.
The event will be presided over by State President Nguyen
Xuan Phuc, marking the first time a high-ranking leader of Vietnam has chaired
an event within the framework of the UN Security Council. This is also the
first important multilateral diplomatic event of the Vietnamese President since
the 13th National Party Congress.
State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc will preside over a high-level open debate on the role of regional organisations in promoting confidence-building and dialogue in conflict prevention and resolution on April 19. (Photo: VNA)
Building trust and dialogue
Deputy Foreign Minister Dang Hoang Giang said that Vietnam has presided over
the making of, and actively consulted to pass the Statement of the UN Security
Council President.
The Statement will affirm the importance of cooperation
between the United Nations, its Security Council and regional organisations in
conflict prevention and settlement through peaceful measures, on the basis of
respecting basic principles of international law and the UN Charter, and underlined confidence-building and dialogue measures as essential elements to contribute
to conflict prevention and settlement.
The Statement will call for efforts to strengthen
cooperation between the UN, its Security Council and regional organisations as well
as between regional organisations in conflict prevention and settlement towards
the building of sustainable peace, while encouraging the UN and the
international community to support the improvement of capacity of regional
organisations in conflict prevention and settlement, post-conflict reconstruction,
and peace maintenance.
“The role of regional organisations in promoting trust
building and dialogue in conflict prevention” is the most important and
inclusive theme of the UN Security Council which is the UN’s main body in the
prevention of wars and conflicts and maintenance of international peace and
security, Giang said, adding that as a member of many important regional
mechanisms, especially ASEAN, Vietnam wants regional organisations to further
promote their roles, improve their images and share responsibility with the UN
in preventing and solving conflicts in the region, for the stability and
prosperity of the region and the world.
Do Hung Viet, head of the Foreign Ministry’s Department of
International Organisations, emphasised that when building priorities for the
working term as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020-2021,
Vietnam determined to promote the role of regional organisations in cooperation
with the UN Security Council in particular and the UN in general.
The upcoming high-level open debate will elevate Vietnam’s
initiatives to contribute to maintaining international peace and security. Through
this event, Vietnam wants to affirm its commitment and efforts to address
global challenges facing the international community, Viet added.
In particular, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s presiding over
the event is the affirmation at the highest level about Vietnam’s foreign
policy of independence, self-reliance, diversification, multilateralism, and proactive
and active international integration during its new stage of development.
Intensifying ASEAN’s role
According to Viet, as a member of ASEAN, Vietnam wants ASEAN
to have an increasing voice, position and role in matters directly related to
the region as well as enhancing the bloc's presence as a regional organisation at the
UN.
Through this event, Vietnam will contribute to drawing the attention of the international community and the United Nations to
cooperation with ASEAN, and strengthening the bloc’s role at international
forums and institutions in the coming time.
The open debate will be also an opportunity for leaders of
the UN and regional organisations such as ASEAN, the European Union (EU), the
African Union (AU), as well as the UN Security Council member states to assert
the important role of regional organisations, share experience of each regional
organisation in dealing with difficulties and challenges in their respective
regions.
Vietnam expects this to be the start of a longer process at
the UN Security Council on issues related to regional organisations and their
role in promoting trust building and dialogue in conflict prevention, thus
contributing to the UN’s joint efforts to maintain peace, security and development
in the world./.