Vietnam continues to affirm its role and responsibility in the "common house" of the United Nations.

President Luong Cuong received Ms. Pauline Tamesis, Resident Coordinator and Heads of United Nations organizations in Vietnam on September 18. (Photo: Lam Khanh/VNA)

From September 21 to 24, President Luong Cuong and his wife, along with a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, attended the high-level General Debate of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, combined with bilateral activities in the United States.

President Luong Cuong's attendance at the High-Level General Debate demonstrates Vietnam's support for multilateralism and respect for the United Nations, affirming Vietnam's role as an active and responsible member of the international community.

80th United Nations General Assembly: “Coming Together for Better”

The United Nations is the first, largest and most influential multilateral international organization in international life, officially established on October 24, 1945 with the noble goal of maintaining international peace and security, creating a stable and sustainable environment for cooperation and development worldwide.

From 51 member states when it was first established, the United Nations now has 193 member states and a comprehensive organizational system consisting of 6 main agencies, many auxiliary agencies, 20 specialized organizations and 5 economic and social commissions located in the regions, along with dozens of funds and programs, operating in almost all fields, from conflict prevention and resolution, disarmament, counter-terrorism, refugee protection, environmental protection and sustainable development, to promoting democracy, human rights, gender equality...

The United Nations General Assembly is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and is the most comprehensive representative deliberative and policy-making body of the United Nations, comprising all 193 member states.

Every September, heads of state and government of the United Nations meet at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, USA, to begin the deliberations of the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly.

A session of the United Nations General Assembly. (Photo: Le Hoang/VNA)

All members of the General Assembly are equal, regardless of size, each member country has one vote. Each year, the General Assembly elects the President of the Annual Sessions for a one-year term.

The year 2025 is of special significance as it marks the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations (1945-2025). This year's session of the United Nations General Assembly is an opportunity for the international community to review the achievements and lessons learned since the United Nations was founded.

It is undeniable that over the past 80 years, the United Nations has made tireless efforts to carry out its mission of maintaining peace and security, building a fair and beautiful world, and promoting sustainable development for all humanity.

The United Nations has played a great role, tirelessly striving to maintain peace, prevent conflicts and wars, and enforce the core norms of international relations in the United Nations Charter. The United Nations has actively played a mediating role in many international crises through negotiations and initiatives for peaceful solutions to hundreds of conflicts in the regions, with an increasingly expanding scope and scale. Thanks to the intervention of the United Nations, many conflicts have been resolved.

Since officially deploying peacekeeping forces in 1948, the United Nations has deployed 71 missions with over 2 million personnel; helping to resolve many conflicts between countries, contributing to curbing some potential conflicts that could lead to military conflicts between major countries, supporting the end of some long-standing civil wars, helping to maintain peace in some regions and the world.

The United Nations currently maintains 11 peacekeeping missions and a number of special political missions, with nearly 70,000 personnel from 122/193 member states. United Nations peacekeeping operations have proven to be one of the most effective tools for the international community to handle complex conflicts that threaten international peace and security.

Also over the past 80 years, hundreds of important multilateral international treaties in many fields have been signed, creating a common framework for maintaining international peace and security and promoting socio-economic development.

In recent years, the United Nations has achieved achievements in global cooperation and development, signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, reformed the United Nations Development System, implemented the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2015 and deployed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030; solved global problems of hunger eradication, poverty reduction, protection of women and children, ensuring human rights, improving healthcare, culture, education, environmental protection, responding to climate change, etc.

Although many achievements have been made, it is undeniable that the current reality, when the world has many complex changes, is causing multilateralism and the United Nations to face enormous challenges both internally and externally, in which the immediate one is the budget crisis and forcing the United Nations to reform to adapt.

The annual budget collection rate of the United Nations is only about 50%. By the end of April 2025, the regular budget is still short of 1.7 billion USD, the budget for UN peacekeeping activities is still short of 2.7 billion USD...

Faced with these challenges, in March 2025, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the launch of the UN80 Reform Initiative - a major reform of the United Nations on the occasion of its 80th anniversary this year.

The UN80 initiative focuses on three main areas: improving operational efficiency through cost-saving measures, streamlining the apparatus and reducing overlap; reviewing the way assigned tasks are carried out; and adjusting the structure of the entire United Nations system. According to Mr. Guterres, the above changes not only improve efficiency, resolve overlap and inefficient use of resources, but also significantly save operating budgets...

Reforming the General Assembly's operations is important for the overall effectiveness of the United Nations' operations, helping to improve the multilateral organization's ability to respond to increasing global challenges. Therefore, the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly is expected to continue to be a place for countries to reaffirm their commitment to multilateralism, promoting reform of the United Nations in the direction of being responsive, effective, transparent and better meeting global needs.

The 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA-80) officially opened at the United Nations headquarters in New York City (USA) on September 9, 2025 with the theme "Better together".

The highlight of UNGA-80 is the High-Level Week taking place from September 23 to 29, 2025 with the participation of many heads of state, heads of government and senior officials of 193 United Nations member states.

The most important activity of the Summit Week is the High-level General Debate with the theme “80 years together and beyond for peace, development and people”. In addition, there are also sideline meetings, from climate, health to women’s rights and digital transformation, showing the increasingly promoted trend of cross-sectoral and cross-regional cooperation. This is considered an inevitable direction towards a safer and more sustainable future for all humanity.

Ahead of the session, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on world leaders to turn their commitments into action when they arrived in New York to attend the High-Level Week of the 80th UN General Assembly. President of the 80th General Assembly Annalena Baerbock stressed that only substantive multilateral cooperation, based on equality and respect for international law, can help effectively respond to global challenges.

Vietnam is proactive, positive and responsible in the noble missions of the United Nations.

Vietnam joined the United Nations on September 20, 1977, becoming the 149th member state of this organization. Officially joining this largest global organization opened a new chapter in Vietnam's relations with the world.

After nearly 50 years, the Vietnam-United Nations relationship continues to develop positively, deepening and being constantly consolidated and strengthened.

The United Nations has always accompanied Vietnam from the period of national reconstruction, post-war recovery, to the period of breaking the embargo and gradually integrating into the international community.

Vietnam's participation in the United Nations and the cooperation and support of United Nations organizations in Vietnam have created leverage and provided important resources for Vietnam to carry out the renovation process and open the door to international integration.

After nearly 40 years of innovation, Vietnam has grown strongly with many outstanding achievements, highly appreciated by the United Nations and the international community.

Vietnam is considered a successful model in implementing the world's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), completing the goal of hunger eradication and poverty reduction 10 years ahead of schedule.

Vietnam has also always taken the lead in implementing the One UN initiative for unified action by UN organizations in Vietnam, actively participating in major UN priorities on peace, development and ensuring human rights.

Participating in the United Nations, Vietnam has also left a deep impression as an increasingly proactive and active member, making increasingly substantial and extensive contributions in terms of ideas, human resources and resources in all areas of the United Nations' pillar activities on peacekeeping, security and development cooperation.

The 2nd Engineer Team departs for a UN peacekeeping mission at the UNISFA Mission in Abyei region (August 2023). (Photo: VNA)

Vietnam has been making increasingly substantial contributions in terms of ideas, human resources, and resources at multilateral forums, especially at the United Nations, gaining the trust and high expectations of UN leaders and the international community.

One of the most notable milestones is that Vietnam was twice elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, for the 2008-2009 and 2020-2021 terms.

During its two terms as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, Vietnam has proposed many initiatives and solutions to global issues, such as the International Day for Epidemic Prevention and Control on December 27; the establishment of the Group of Friends of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982; dealing with the consequences of bombs and mines, protecting essential infrastructure in conflicts; promoting cooperation between the United Nations and ASEAN, etc.

Currently, Vietnam is undertaking many important international responsibilities such as: member of the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 term, the International Law Commission for the 2023-2025 term, the Executive Board of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women for the 2025-2027 term and many executive bodies of UNESCO...; continuing to actively run for positions in many important multilateral mechanisms and organizations such as: the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2026-2028 term, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) for the 2026-2035 term, the United Nations Economic and Social Council for the 2030-2032 term, the United Nations Security Council for the 2032-2033 term, President of the 91st United Nations General Assembly (September 2036-September 2037).

Vietnam has also actively participated in United Nations peacekeeping operations. From 2014 to the end of 2024, Vietnam has deployed nearly 1,100 officers and soldiers to participate in United Nations peacekeeping operations in remote areas, such as South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Abyei (a disputed area between Sudan and South Sudan) and the United Nations headquarters; providing practical support and close ties with local people, truly becoming "messengers of peace" in each stationed area, thereby enhancing the image and position of the Vietnamese armed forces in the eyes of international friends.

Welcoming ceremony for the 2nd Engineer Team at the UNISFA Mission (Abyei Region) after successfully completing their mission. (Photo: Trong Duc/VNA)

With persistent efforts to contribute to the noble missions of the United Nations in recent times, President Luong Cuong's participation in the high-level general debate of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (from September 21 to 24, 2025) continues to affirm Vietnam's contributions to the world's largest multilateral organization, while also demonstrating Vietnam's proactiveness and positivity in participating in solving regional and world issues.

Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States Nguyen Quoc Dung said this is also an opportunity for Vietnam to express its views and share development experiences, contributing initiatives and practical solutions to common issues of humanity such as peace, stability, sustainable development and response to climate change...

It is expected that President Luong Cuong will deliver a speech at the High-Level Session, emphasizing the major, consistent message of "80 years of accompanying each other for peace, cooperation and development - honoring common values, dynamic transformation for a sustainable future."

Before the trip, on the afternoon of September 18, President Luong Cuong had a meeting with Ms. Pauline Tamesis, United Nations Resident Coordinator, and Heads of United Nations organizations in Vietnam.

President Luong Cuong received Ms. Pauline Tamesis, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Vietnam. (Photo: Lam Khanh/VNA)

At the reception, the President emphasized that the High-Level Debate of the 80th United Nations General Assembly took place in a special context when the United Nations celebrated its 80th founding anniversary and Vietnam celebrated its 80th National Day. Both the United Nations and Vietnam are making efforts to reform towards increasing effectiveness and efficiency, adapting to the requirements of the times.

At the reception, President Luong Cuong emphasized Vietnam's stance of strongly supporting multilateralism and the central role of the United Nations in global governance, stressing that Vietnam will continue to take concrete actions to actively and responsibly contribute to the world's common work for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and globally.

President Luong Cuong proposed that the United Nations closely coordinate with Vietnam to successfully organize the official visit of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the signing ceremony of the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime in Hanoi at the end of October 2025.

For her part, Ms. Pauline Tamesis affirmed that the United Nations will continue to accompany and support Vietnam in implementing its commitments on sustainable development, climate change response, equitable energy transition, promoting gender equality and working towards achieving the set strategic goals./.

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/viet-nam-ngay-cang-khang-dinh-vai-tro-trach-nhiem-trong-ngoi-nha-chung-lien-hop-quoc-post1062869.vnp