Vietnamese ambassador underlines maintaining peace for global development

The event, running with the theme of “Deepening Cooperation under Global Development Initiative for Accelerated Implementation of the 2030 Agenda”, was attended by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi, along with Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Liu Zhenmin, among others.

As part of his address, Ambassador Giang affirmed that without peace, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will not be achieved, adding that maintaining peace and consistent stability is a prerequisite for post-pandemic recovery and development.

The Vietnamese representative emphasized the necessity of upholding the spirit of peace, co-operation, transparency, openness, inclusiveness, equality, mutual benefits, and the respect to the principles of the UN Charter and international law, taking into account various interests and cultural diversity of  member states.

The diplomat suggested that developed countries move to increase their support of developing ones in terms of science-technology, digital technology, infrastructure development, capacity improvement, and financial resources. He therefore highlighted the role of the UN development system in sharing knowledge and expertise in a bid to assist developing countries in implementing the 2030 Agenda.

With regard to the operation of the Group of Friends moving forward, Ambassador Giang outlined that the concerns and interests of the member countries should be fully considered during negotiations and decision-making processes. Simultaneously, in order to achieve substantial outcomes, the group should consider a range of priority areas to focus on for each year, he said.

The Friends of Global Development Initiative was first established in January following a proposal made China, alongside 53 members, as a way of speeding up the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

Speaking at the event, Minister Wang called for closer co-ordination among all countries to implement the GDI and resume global co-operation for the 2030 Agenda, along with the creation of favourable conditions for development and the reform of the global governance system. This should be done as part of wider efforts to strengthen the representation of developing nations and promote the building of an open economy. In addition, developed countries also need to fulfill their commitments in support of greater development, whilst scaling up financial and technological support to developing countries, he said.

Secretary-General Guterres expressed his confidence that the GDI will contribute to speeding up the realisation of SDGs through the reform of the global financial system, climate change response, green transformation commitments, as well as the promotion of peace and human rights and re-commitments to multilateralism.