Ambassadors of Estonia, Niger, Saint Vincents & the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam at the flag lowering ceremony ending Vietnam's two-year term as UNSC non-permanent member (Photo: VNA)
Vietnam took the position in January 2020 for its second time, after the first for the 2008-2009 term.
Over the past three decades, Vietnam has been recognized as a responsible member of the international community, successfully adopting sound market institutions and consistently achieving impressive economic performance. UN member countries have welcomed Vietnam's active role in promoting the struggles for the nation's independence, sovereignty and self-determination. Vietnam's remarkable journey from a low-income country to a middle-income country lifted more than 40 million people out of poverty between 1993 and 2014. Vietnam's successful journey to the UN was driven by notable strides made between 1995 and 1999, including the normalization of diplomatic and trade relations with the United States, and cooperation with multilateral donors such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
Notably, Vietnam has taken advantage of the possibility of deeper integration with the international economic system, including joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007. Despite experiencing half a century of war, Vietnam wasted no time in supporting UN initiatives highlighting the basic principles of international law and the Charter in the settlement of international conflicts through peaceful means.
Vietnam is ready to gain a more prominent voice and position in the UN. This is most evident in its efforts to successfully participate in the UN Peacekeeping Operations since early 2014, and Vietnam proudly displayed its national flag at the UN Peacekeeping Missions in South Sudan and the Central African Republic. Vietnam's remarkable development in the field of international security has been widely witnessed in its role as the host of the 2017 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, and the summit between DPRK leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump in 2019, in Hanoi. Hanoi emerged as a recognized peacemaker in conciliatory diplomacy.
Looking back at the 2020-2021 tenure at the UNSC, it can be said that Vietnam has successfully completed its international mission in the process of substantive and practical participation in the common work of the UNSC, dealing with a large amount of work with about 840 ambassador-level meetings, approving more than 240 documents on 60 different agenda items, contributing to achieving all the goals and mottos set out at the beginning of the term.
Vietnam successfully assumed the role of rotating chair of the UNSC twice (January 2020 and April 2021), contributing responsibly to the process of discussing and finding solutions to prevent and overcoming conflict consequences, maintaining international peace and security, leaving many imprints on Vietnam's multilateral diplomatic identity.
Events and documents chaired by Vietnam received the active response and participation of other countries. Vietnam proposed 2 Resolutions and 5 Declarations which were adopted by the UNSC./.