President Nguyen Xuan Phuc chairs the United Nations Security Council Summit

Building trust, dialogue

On April 19, the Summit ofUnited Nations Security Councilchaired by President Nguyen Xuan Phuc is an important and meaningful event. This is the first time the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has chaired a meeting of the Security Council and is the first important multilateral diplomatic activity of President Nguyen Xuan Phuc since the 13th National Party Congress.

The content of the discussion session is the United Nations' cooperation with regional organizations in building trust and dialogue to prevent and resolve conflicts...

Deputy Foreign Minister Dang Hoang Giang said that Vietnam chaired the drafting and actively consulted to approve the Security Council's Presidential Statement.

The Declaration will have important contents, affirming the importance of cooperation between the United Nations/Security Council and regional organizations in preventing and resolving conflicts through peaceful measures, on the basis of respecting the fundamental principles of international law and the United Nations Charter;

Affirming that confidence-building measures and dialogue are essential elements contributing to preventing and resolving conflicts; recognizing and emphasizing the important role of the United Nations, regional organizations and relevant parties in promoting confidence-building measures and dialogue in their regions, for the common interests of peace, stability, friendship, cooperation and sustainable development in the world.

The statement calls for efforts to strengthen cooperation between the United Nations/Security Council and regional organizations as well as between regional organizations in preventing and resolving conflicts towards building sustainable peace; encourages the United Nations and the international community to support capacity building for regional organizations in preventing and resolving conflicts, post-conflict reconstruction, and maintaining peace, etc.

It can be said that "The role of regional organizations in promoting confidence building and dialogue in conflict prevention" is the most important and comprehensive topic of the Security Council as the key agency of the United Nations in preventing war, conflict, maintaining international peace and security. This is also an issue that attracts the attention of the international community in the context of peace and stability being the major trend but conflicts and competition still taking place fiercely in some places.

As a member of many important regional mechanisms, especially ASEAN, Vietnam hopes that regional organizations will further promote their role, enhance their image and share responsibility with the United Nations in preventing and resolving conflicts in the region, for the stability and prosperity of the region and the world.

Mr. Do Hung Viet - Director of the Department of International Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that right from the time of developing priority topics for the term of non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council 2020-2021, Vietnam has determined to promote the role of regional organizations in cooperation with the Security Council in particular and with the United Nations in general.

This is also the inheritance and continuation of the achievements during Vietnam's ASEAN Chairmanship year 2020 and Vietnam's initiative during its first Security Council Presidency month (January 2020) when it organized the first meeting of the Security Council with the theme "Cooperation between the United Nations and ASEAN".

The online high-level discussion with the theme "The role of regional organizations in promoting confidence building and dialogue in conflict prevention" will enhance Vietnam's initiatives, not only for ASEAN but also contributing to maintaining international peace and security, specifically in promoting measures on confidence building and dialogue to prevent and resolve conflicts. Through this event, Vietnam wants to affirm its commitment and efforts in addressing global challenges facing the international community.

In particular, thePresident Nguyen Xuan PhucChairing the discussion session is an affirmation at the highest level of Vietnam's foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, diversification, multilateralization, proactive and active international integration in the new development stage of the country.

Strengthening the role of ASEAN

The topic of the Discussion Session: "The role of regional organizations in promoting trust building and dialogue in conflict prevention" is one of the topics that Vietnam prioritizes in the context of Vietnam having just completed its responsibilities as ASEAN Chair 2020, being a trustworthy and responsible member, playing a central role in the region and the international community.

Over the past decade, ASEAN has played a truly important role in uniting countries in the region, transforming Southeast Asia from a region of many conflicts and disputes into a peaceful and prosperous region as it is today.

ASEAN continues to promote its important role in creating mechanisms and forums to increase trust among member countries, as well as between member countries and partner countries within and outside the region.

According to Mr. Do Hung Viet, as an ASEAN member, Vietnam hopes that ASEAN will have more voice, position and increasingly larger role in issues directly related to the region as well as increase ASEAN's presence as a regional organization at the United Nations. "The role of regional organizations in promoting trust building and dialogue in conflict prevention" is the connection between these two important roles.

Through this event, Vietnam will contribute to attracting the attention of the international community and the United Nations to cooperation with ASEAN; enhancing ASEAN's role in international forums and institutions in the coming time.

The discussion session was also an opportunity for leaders of the United Nations, leaders of regional organizations such as ASEAN, the European Union (EU), the African Union (AU), as well as leaders of Security Council member countries to discuss and affirm the important role of regional organizations, and share the experiences of each regional organization in dealing with difficult issues and challenges in their regions.

Thereby, cooperation among regional organizations and between regional organizations and the United Nations will be more cohesive, forming a network to share information, share experiences in handling arising issues and at the same time coordinate in sharing resources and enhancing the capacity of regional organizations.

Vietnam hopes this will be the start of a longer process at the UN Security Council on issues related to regional organizations and the role of regional organizations in promoting trust building and dialogue in conflict prevention, contributing to the common efforts of the UN for peace, security and development in the world./.