Vietnam’s major diplomatic achievements at multilateral forums

Amid an especially complicated world situation, the nation continues to prove itself to be a responsible member of the international community, effectively engaging in the common work of the UN. With significant contributions, the country upholds its ideology and stance in support of peace, development, respect for international law, multilateralism, and most importantly, upholding compliance with the UN Charter in all pillars from peace, security, development, and human rights protection.

According to Ambassador Giang, the highlight of Vietnamese diplomacy this year is the successful assumption of Vice President of the 77th UN General Assembly (September 2022 - September 2023), while participating in the process of making plans and global important decisions, especially amid the UN General Assembly having to handle a huge amount of work.

Most notably, Vietnam has chaired a number of UN General Assembly sessions which seek to discuss and pass resolutions requesting the International Court of Justice (ICJ) provide advisory opinions on the issue of climate change and the Agreement on the Sea, as well as resolutions to organise high-level meetings on readiness to prevent and respond to epidemics.

The nation has co-ordinated with other countries to propose initiatives and solutions on many major issues, as well as becoming involved in collaborating and directly negotiating the making of documents.

This has seen the country contribute ideas and initiatives to many ongoing processes at the UN to shape the future. Indeed, it continues to play an active member of ASEAN, G-77, leading the Group of Friends of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

All of these partnerships have created a solid foreign position for the nation at the UN forum.

This year has seen the country make many meaningful contributions as a member of the UN Human Rights Council for the 2023 to 2025 term, the International Law Commission (2023-2027), the Executive Board of UNESCO (2021-2025), and the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (2022-2026).

In the process of undertaking and implementing those responsibilities, the country has effectively contributed to the common work of the UN on all three pillars, including peace and security, development, and human rights.

Regarding peace and security, the Vietnamese side always actively steps up common efforts to enhance the role of the UN and build a global governance system based on the rule of law and respect for the UN Charter and standards which is widely recognized internationally.

In the context of increased competition and strategic confrontation, as well as multilateral ties facing numerous challenges, the nation has constantly called for strengthening trust, reinforcing international solidarity and responsibility, boosting dialogue and mutual understanding in order to peacefully resolve all disputes, all for the common goal of peace, national independence, democracy, and progress in the world.

The country has also actively contributed and expanded the scale of participation in UN peacekeeping activities as a contribution to preventing conflicts and building peace in hot spots in Africa.

Regarding development, Ambassador Giang emphasized that Vietnam continued to demonstrate its strong commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The consistent Vietnamese viewpoint is always to put people at the centre and ensure they are the driving force of all policy decisions.

This is also the guiding principle that the UN always strives to pursue. The country has been participating in many core groups, making proposals, co-ordinating efforts, and negotiating many initiatives and collaboration documents on education, health, water resource protection, energy conversion, and climate change response.

Vietnam has continued to actively implement the Fair Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) agreement, striving to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

The nation has actively co-operated with UN mechanisms on human rights, while protecting the National Report under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism and reports on the implementation of international human rights conventions in which the country is a member of.

Vietnam also continues to affirm its strong commitment to promoting multilateralism, with the UN playing a central role, respecting the basic principles of the UN Charter and international law, including respect for independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, dialogue instead of confrontation, and a peaceful resolution of disputes.

Representatives of the UN and many countries highly appreciate the country’s practical and proactive contributions. Pauline Tamesis, resident coordinator in Vietnam of the UN, clearly stated that the nation is affirming its position and role regionally and globally, including taking on the role of a non-permanent member of the Security Council, being a member of the UN Security Council, being a member of the UN Human Rights Council, whilst also being one of the leading contributors to peacekeeping operations.

Rana Flowers, chief representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Vietnam, has highlighted the nation as a proactive, positive, and responsible member in multilateral processes.

Ambassador Giang forecasts that the international situation ahead in 2024 will still be extremely complicated with many unstable factors, the workload and the level of friction and complexity in UN multilateral activities will therefore increase.

The nation will continue to accelerate the implementation of a foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation, diversification, and international integration which is proactive comprehensive, extensive, and effective.

The country will also actively prepare for and contribute to major UN processes, including the Summit of the Future, the high-level General Debate of the UNGA’s 79th session, the Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in January, 2024, thereby seriously fulfilling its international commitments and continuing upholding its role as a member of crucial UN mechanisms.

The achievements and hallmarks that have been attained serve as a foundation to take pride in and believe that the nation today is not only ready to be a reliable, constructive, and responsible partner of the global community, but also possesses the expertise and resources necessary to shoulder responsibilities commensurate with its new stature.

Thereby, Vietnam moves to increasingly strengthen its role, position, and image as a peace-loving country, a responsible member, while participating more actively, proactively, and effectively in the common work of the UN in dealing with global challenges, the Vietnamese diplomat said.