On July 28, Senior Lieutenant General-Deputy Minister of National Defense Hoang Xuan Chien held talks with Ms. Kanni Wignaraja, assistant of United Nations (UN) Secretary-General cum director of the UN Development Program (UNDP) for Asia-Pacific, to foster cooperation in peacekeeping and unexploded ordnance (UXO) consequence handling, state media reported.
During the meeting, Deputy Minister Chien thanked the UNDP for supporting the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense (MoD) in the mutual concerns. He shared his desire to receive more assistance from the UNDP for the UXO issues, including finance, technique, capacity building, experience sharing, and database.
The Vietnamese official expected an expanded collaboration with the UN, UNDP, and other foreign partners in tackling dioxin and chemical consequences by researching and supporting UXO victims.
Regarding the UN peacekeeping activities, Mr. Chien highlighted the successful operation and contribution of the Vietnamese peacekeeping force to the UN. He emphasized that Vietnam advocates deeper participation in UN peacekeeping activities, including expanding the number of missions and the form of deployment.
He hoped that the UNDP in Vietnam would continue to work closely with the MoD to successfully organize the International Conference “Women, Peace and Security Maintaining” in the fourth quarter (Q4) of this year.
For her part, Ms. Kanni Wignaraja highly valued the bilateral cooperation as well as the contribution of Vietnam to the UN activities. She reaffirmed that the UNDP would continue supporting Vietnam in both stressing UXO issues and enhancing Vietnam’s role in UN peacekeeping. (QDND [1])