Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son meets UN Secretary-General António Guterres in Geneva, Switzerland, February 26, 2024 

Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son made the above statement during his meeting with UN Secretary-General António Guterres in Geneva, Switzerland, on February 26.

The meeting took place on the occasion of the Bui's attendance at the 55th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.

At the meeting, Bui called on the UN to continue supporting Viet Nam in its national development process and contributing to building a peaceful, stable, and resilient ASEAN community.

The Vietnamese diplomat welcomed the initiatives of the Secretary-General and shared Viet Nam's recent efforts such as adopting the roadmap to realise the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, and implementing commitments on climate change at the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP), including the implementation of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP).

Viet Nam will continue to send officers and soldiers to join the UN peacekeeping operations in the coming time,  he noted.

Guterres, for his part, congratulated on Viet Nam's achievements and thanked the country for its great cooperation with and support for UN priorities, especially in participating in peacekeeping, implementing the Sustainable Development Goals, supporting the reform of the Security Council and international financial institutions, and pioneering the implementation of climate change commitments.

At the meeting with President of the UN General Assembly Dennis Francis, Bui highly appreciated the President's role, especially in the context of the complicated world situation.

Francis affirmed that Viet Nam has made practical contributions to the work of the UN in general as well as to his office in particular, including sending staff to work at the office.

He shared Viet Nam's concerns about peace, respect for international law, and response to climate change, asserting that the UN and its member states need to join hands to handle emerging international issues and focus on promoting the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

In that spirit, the UN plans to organize a "Sustainability Week" in April 2024 with five main topics of tourism, infrastructure, energy, sustainable debt handling and transport, as a response to the "Future Summit" scheduled to be held in September 2024. He said he looks forward to Vietnam's active participation.

On the occasion, Bui had meetings with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Murat Abugaliuly Nurtleu, Moroccan Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi and Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.