Ambassador Le Luong Minh, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations made the statement at the June 11 meeting of the UN Security Council on humanitarian situation in Sudan.

The ambassador said Vietnam remains concerned about the serious humanitarian situation in Darfur and Sudan and calls on the international community and the Security Council to act in unison to address the humanitarian challenges and improve the living conditions of the affected civilians on the ground.

He welcomed the recent establishment of the UN-Sudan High-level Committee to facilitate humanitarian dialogue and expressed his belief that the committee will be an effective mechanism for implementing the Joint Communiqué on the Facilitation of Humanitarian Activities in Darfur, signed on March 28, 2007 between the UN and the Sudanese Government.

The Vietnamese diplomat said that Vietnam also commends the announcement by the Sudanese Government that it will consider permitting international aid organisations to operate in Sudan to fill the gap caused by the departure of 13 NGOs last March.

Such momentum of cooperation should be encouraged and further promoted, he said.