The United Nations supports Vietnam’s engagement in peacekeeping activities and will help improve the Vietnam Peacekeeping Center’s capacity to train peacekeeping forces, a high-ranking UN official has said. The UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Herve Ladsous, made the statement when receiving a Vietnamese delegation led by Deputy Minister of Defense Nguyen Chi Vinh at the first-ever UN Chiefs of Defense Conference organized at the UN headquarters in New York City on March 27 and 28, according to the Vietnam News Agency.  Ladsous described Vietnam’s participation in the conference as a representation of its responsibility and determination to join UN peacekeeping missions.

The UN will help improve the Vietnam Peacekeeping Center’s capacity to train peacekeeping forces, effectively perform search, rescue, and humanitarian aid missions, and take part in bilateral and multilateral cooperation activities, he added. Addressing the event, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon valued member countries’ contributions to peacekeeping activities while calling for increasingly active and efficient participation to protect people, promote the law, prevent conflicts, maintain peace, and build a better world.

Speaking before 450 delegates from more than 100 countries at the conference, Deputy Minister Vinh stressed that the Asia-Pacific region is facing imminent challenges that pose threats to peace, stability, and security arising from non-traditional security problems, territorial disputes, threats of force, and non-compliance with international law. Ensuring peace and security in Asia Pacific is now more urgent than ever and needs to be highlighted in the UN’s working agenda, the Vietnamese military official said, adding that Vietnam always makes efforts to contribute to peace and stability, and protests inequality and the use of force. The country always considers community interests and international law the guideline for all its actions to safeguard its own interests and maintain regional and international peace and security, Deputy Minister Vinh said.  He added that Vietnam will send staff officers to the mission in the Central African Republic and officially register for membership in the UN Standby Arrangement System to take part in future missions. He added that the Southeast Asian country previously sent liaison officers to the UN mission in South Sudan. The Vietnam People’s Army is capable of successfully joining in UN peacekeeping activities and it hopes to receive cooperation and assistance from the UN and its member nations to fulfill all assigned tasks, the Vietnamese official asserted.

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