Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres meet in New York on May 30, 2017. (Photo: VNA)

The Prime Minister stressed that as a responsible member of the UN, the country has made contributions to the UN’s common work. He proposed the UN to increase its support for Vietnam in implementing the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, Paris agreement on climate change and Sendai framework on disaster risk reduction. Vietnam has decided to be among 10 leading countries carrying out the UN initiative on El Nino and La Nina response, he said. Prime Minister Phuc briefed Secretary General Guterres on recent development in the East Sea and asked the UN chief to support and speed up the settlement of disputes in the waters by peaceful measures on the basis of international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), full respect for diplomatic and legal process and early finalisation of the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

Secretary General Guterres highly valued Vietnam’s recent socio-economic achievements, especially millennium goals, hoping the Southeast Asian nation to succeed in implementing sustainable development goals. The same day, the PM attended the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of Vietnam’s UN membership in the presence of UN Secretary General Guterres, President of the UN General Assembly Peter Thomson, UN senior officials, and ambassadors and head of missions to the UN.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said: “Over the past 40 years, we have been glad over the development of the Vietnam-UN ties. The Vietnamese people always remember the precious assistance and support of the UN and the international community in overcoming the war consequences and in national construction, helping Vietnam to gain proud achievements today.”

The Prime Minister said that Vietnam treasures its cooperation with the UN and calls for further UN’s central role in maintaining peace and security, and settling disputes through peaceful means on the basis of respecting UN Charter and the international law.