Vietnam’s peacekeeping force has worked to enhance the country’s position in promoting the implementation of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including maintaining sustainable peace around the world, Major General Hoang Kim Phung, Director of the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations, has said.
Major General Hoang Kim Phung, Director of the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam’s peacekeeping force has worked to enhance the
country’s position in promoting the implementation of the UN Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), including maintaining sustainable peace around the
world, Major General Hoang Kim Phung, Director of the Vietnam Department of
Peacekeeping Operations, has said.
In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency (VNA), Phung highlighted the positive
contributions made by Vietnam’s peacekeeping force in UN missions.
“Sending troops to join UN peacekeeping missions in Africa is the Vietnamese army’s
contribution to maintaining sustainable peace in the world,” he emphasised,
adding that all countries wish to protect their people from non-traditional
challenges and enable them to live in safety.
Vietnam’s peacekeeping initiatives have been commended by the UN and
international friends, contributing to affirming its position and prestige in
the region and the world, he added.
Although Vietnam is quite new to peacekeeping missions, the country has made a
positive impression on the international community, the UN, and the missions in
South Sudan and the Central Africa Republic, Phung said.
It has signed nine cooperative peacekeeping agreements with nine countries and two
others with the UN and the EU, he said, describing the deals as helping promote
bilateral defence cooperation with foreign countries.
A Vietnamese blue-beret officer (Photo: VNA)
Some 126 doctors and medical staff and 53 officers of Vietnamese level-2 field
hospitals have joined UN peacekeeping forces since 2014, and they have
successfully fulfilled their tasks. The Under-Secretary General for Peace
Operations and the Military Adviser to the UN Secretary General sent a thank you
letter to the Vietnamese Government for its medical contributions to the UN.
Besides carrying out its mission, Vietnam’s peacekeeping force has provided
major support to local residents, such as teaching and taking care of kids and instructing
people on how to plant vegetables, among other things.
In particular, after the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the world, making
it harder to ensure sufficient medical supplies for hospitals, staff who
returned home on furlough were assigned to bring back medicines and medical
supplies when they returned, to serve COVID-19 prevention efforts in the host
nation.
Phung said the participation in defence foreign affairs is one way for the
Vietnamese military to protect the country during peacetime.
A ceremony on March 23 in Ho Chi Minh City to send off the staff of the third Level-2 Field Hospital, who participate in the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (Photo: VNA)
Peacekeeping is a priority for Vietnam at the UN Security Council as the
country serves in different positions this year. It was UNSC Chair for the
second time in April, suggesting 15 open meetings and ten closed meetings to
discuss international peace and security.
On April 19, State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc will preside over a high-level
open debate on enhancing cooperation between the UN and regional and
sub-regional organisations in promoting confidence-building and dialogue in
conflict prevention and resolution.
Earlier this month, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son presided over a
ministerial-level open debate on “Mine action and sustaining peace: Stronger
partnerships for better delivery”./.