Vietnam

I am again the last speaker of the day, but I am happy because it gives me a little extra time to congratulate the President on the effective manner in which he is conducting the work of the session, which gives us every reason to believe that it will be steered to a fruitful conclusion. I wish also to extend our heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the families of the plane crash victims of yesterday. Let us pray that it had nothing to do with terrorist acts, as the tragic events of 11 September alone were more than enough to bring to the fore the fight against terrorism as one of the top priorities of the United Nations and the international community. Cognizant of the distinction between terrorism and the struggle to exercise a people’s right to self- determination, Viet Nam persistently condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, which takes a heavy toll of innocent lives. We fully support the international endeavour and cooperation to ensure world peace, stability and security in full conformity with the United Nations Charter and with fundamental principles of international law, particularly those respecting national independence and sovereignty. No individual country can go solo or have double standards in this fight. While members of the international community must act in a responsible manner by not tolerating, nurturing and/or supporting terrorists on their soil, they should also bring the terrorists to justice or extradite them to the country where their crimes were committed, so that they can be duly punished. Though combating international terrorism has become the pressing task of the day, it must not overshadow the challenges of the twenty-first century. Poverty, the widened development gap, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the deteriorating environment, regional tensions and conflicts, all point to the potential instability of the world today, as mentioned by our leaders a year ago. The Summit Declaration, in reflecting the genuine wishes and resolve of the world’s peoples, vigorously reconfirmed the values and principles of the Charter, defining the priority objectives of the United Nations and the international community for the years to come, thus becoming our platform, our programme of action for the new millennium. To implement the Declaration at the global level, the United Nations last year conducted numerous activities, including the organization of a series of special sessions in the economic, social and security fields. The international organizations in the United Nations system — such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) — are actively coordinating with nations to incorporate in their national programmes the specific objectives set forth in the Summit Declaration. This is a significant start which should be further promoted, as the most pressing challenge to us all is how to eradicate poverty on a global scale. In this spirit we wish to congratulate the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, who started his second term in office with the Nobel Peace Prize. We are fully convinced that the Secretary-General will continue to contribute to the cause of all nations and peoples. Against the backdrop of globalization spearheaded by the information technology revolution, the other side of international political and economic life has been further exposed. The gap between rich and poor has widened further, and adverse circumstances in international relations have emerged, further underscoring the disadvantage and vulnerability of the developing countries. The Secretary-General once said words to the effect that poverty and the gap between rich and poor are the seeds of instability and precarious development, and that today’s main challenge is how to ensure that globalization becomes the driving force of development instead of leaving a billion people in abject poverty. A common concern at present, however, is the tendency towards decreasing official development assistance (ODA), particularly the decrease in contributions to the development organizations in the United Nations system, which will surely hamper their activities. More than ever before, the United Nations, the international community, the developed countries in particular, should further assist the developing countries in the eradication of poverty, disease and illiteracy, and facilitate their fuller and equitable participation in international economic life. Development requires an environment of peace and stability. But complex implications arising from the conflicts in some parts of the world and the possible intensification of an arms race, are not conducive to development at all. Of particular concern is the escalation of violence in the Middle East. We join the community of world peoples calling for an 42 early end to violence, the resumption of peaceful negotiations for a just, long-lasting solution in which the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and the legitimate rights of all parties concerned, would be guaranteed. By the same token, the embargoes imposed upon Cuba, Iraq and Libya, which cause untold suffering to these peoples, should be lifted so as to enable them to concentrate their energy and efforts on national reconstruction and development. This year, South-East Asia has witnessed certain complex developments, but peace, stability and cooperation remain the burning aspiration of our peoples and continue to be the main tendency. The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries are determined to build a zone of peace, development and prosperity and to coordinate efforts to effectively cope with regional and global challenges. In that context, the success of the 34th Ministerial Meeting, the eighth ASEAN Regional Forum held in Hanoi last August and the ASEAN Summit held in Brunei Darussalam in early November, all contributed to establishing priorities and effective measures for the future of this region. These meetings reaffirmed ASEAN’s determination to further promote solidarity, cooperation, dialogue and mutual understanding within ASEAN, and between ASEAN countries and their dialogue partners, especially China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, for the peaceful settlement of their differences on the basis of respect for fundamental principles and norms of international law, particularly those regarding consensus and non-interference in the internal affairs of others. The Hanoi Declaration on Narrowing the Development Gap for Closer ASEAN Integration and other important documents were adopted on confidence-building and the promotion of mutual understanding for peace and stability in South- East Asia, as well as in Asia and the Pacific. They welcomed the promising progress in the ASEAN-China consultation regarding a code of conduct in the Eastern Sea, reaffirming those principles of the 1992 ASEAN Manila Declaration on the settlement of conflicting claims of territorial sovereignty in the Eastern Sea. We sincerely hope that the United Nations and the international community, in line with the Millennium Declaration, will deliver active support and assistance to the implementation of our regional cooperation for peace, stability and development in the region and throughout the world. In the course of 15 years of rebuilding, Viet Nam has recorded great achievements in all fields. The ninth Party Congress has drawn necessary lessons from our own experiences, reaffirmed our resolve to continue the course, stepping up industrialization and modernization programmes, and mapping out the socio-economic development strategy for the years 2001 to 2010. While trying to bring into full play our inner strength, we will create more favourable conditions to attract investment and expand further effective cooperation with foreign partners and countries. We will continue to pursue our foreign policy of independence, openness, international economic integration, friendship and trusted partnership with all countries in the international community in the endeavour for peace, independence and development. The Millennium Summit and its Declaration provided us with a momentum in the new millennium, which should be maintained through the active implementation of the guidelines unanimously endorsed by our leaders. The United Nations and each Member State should make efforts to achieve those objectives. In order to contribute effectively to the common cause, the United Nations should speed up the process of reform, renovation and democratization. Viet Nam fully supports the central role of the General Assembly, the highest representative body of the whole membership, and the reform and expansion of the Security Council in both the non-permanent and permanent categories. The developing countries should have fuller representation and participation in the Council’s decision-making. But it is of the utmost importance that the United Nations should design measures to concentrate resources for development and the eradication of poverty and for the other major objectives included in the Millennium Declaration. It is the expectation of the whole membership that the United Nations should become a worthy world body, operating in a more effective manner in the interests of all countries and for a just, humanistic and better world in the new millennium. We believe that the United Nations will surely live up to this expectation and Viet Nam pledges to contribute actively to this common endeavour.