Viet Nam has been well prepared to participate in all activities of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), a senior Vietnamese diplomat said on January 1.
Ambassador Le Luong Minh, head of the Vietnamese delegation to the UN and representative of Viet Nam to the UNSC, made the statement during an interview with the Viet Nam News Agency.
Viet Nam officially assumed its responsibility of a non-permanent member of the UNSC as of January 1 along with four other countries representing different continents and regions.
“On January 2, we will participate in the first activity of the UNSC – a political coordinators’ meeting to discuss the council’s working programme in January 2008,” Minh said.
The diplomat said Viet Nam had been preparing for a term in the UNSC for 10 years since it registered its candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the council. Preparatory activities have been pushed up over the past year since the group of Asian nations agreed to nominate Viet Nam as the only regional candidate.
He further said that to gain more operational experiences at the UNSC, Viet Nam has consulted all council members, including those which have served recent terms. The country has also participated in all activities of the council as an observer over the past one month and a half, he said.
“Now we are ready for the task,” the ambassador asserted, adding that UNSC membership is a result of the country’s renewal and integration policy and the world’s recognition of Viet Nam ’s peace-oriented, open and responsible external policy.
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