On September 28, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Group of Friends (UNAOC) held its Ministerial Meeting on the sidelines of the 65^th session of the UN General Assembly. The meeting aimed to review UNAOC activities in the last four months since the third meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to discuss preparations for the 2011 Doha Forum.

Addressing the meeting, Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio, UNAOC’s High Representative, announced Vietnam’s admission as an Alliance’s member and congratulated the country.

Ambassador Bui The Giang praised the efforts of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon,  UNAOC’s high representative and members to create favourable conditions for member countries to establish their partnership over the past five years.

As a UNAOC member, Vietnam will have more opportunities to learn about diverse world cultures and share its experiences in national construction and development, Mr Giang said.

UNAOC was established in 2005 through the initiative of the Portuguese and Turkish governments to promote dialogues and cooperation between cultures, civilizations and religions in order to combat extremism and polarisation.

Mr Jorge Sampaio was appointed by the UN Secretary General as the Alliance’s high representative in 2007. The Alliance’s Group of Friends was formed in the UNAOC framework, attracting 122 members from different countries and regional and international organisations.

Also the on the fringe of the 65^th session of the UN General Assembly, the eighth Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) Ministerial Meeting was chaired by the Foreign Ministers of Sri Lanka and Iran.

Participants highlighted the ACD’s role in boosting all-round cooperation in economics, trade and technology, and its efforts to maintain peace, settle disputes and resolve differences in the region.

They also discussed preparations for the ninth ACD scheduled to take place November 8-9 in Tehran, Iran.

In his speech at the meeting, Mr Giang said Vietnam appreciated the ACD’s positive contributions to enhancing solidarity between nations and underlined the need for specific measures and action plans to increase cooperation.

Vietnam will continue to perform its role as coordinator for poverty reduction and human resources development under the ACD framework, and as ASEAN Chair in 2010, it will also help promote cooperation between ASEAN and the ACD, Mr Giang noted.