UN has crucial role in Vietnam: diplomat

Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung has highly appreciated support of United Nations agencies and organisations for Vietnam while affirming the UN has a crucial role in Vietnam.

The Deputy FM made the statement at a workshop on reforming the UN development system held in Hanoi on October 15.

In recent years, the UN has pushed ahead with reform in three major arenas: development, peace and security, and management. Vietnam has always been recognised as the front line of that reform process, Trung said.

He added that the bilateral cooperation has been growing since Vietnam joined the UN in 1977.

The workshop encouraged participants to talk about influences of the UN development reform system on Vietnam, and the UN support capabilities for Vietnam’s development in various fields such as infrastructure and human resources, he added.

Kamal Malhotra, UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam, described the workshop as a meeting of the joint steering committee to look back on the implementation of a joint strategy plan of the Vietnamese government and the UN in 2017-2021 as part of the “Delivering as One” (DaO) initiative.

He said the UN in Vietnam will continue acting as a catalyst in sharing international knowledge and expertise, good experiences and practices, and policy advice from the UN and its partners.

He hoped the UN development reform system will back the implementation of sustainable development goals for the sake of Vietnamese people.

During the workshop, participants proposed strategic recommendations for Vietnam to actively engage in the reform process and optimise its benefits as well as discussed solutions to remove bottlenecks in implementing cooperation projects and reform the development system in Vietnam./.