Vietnam elevates ASEAN's position in international affairs at UN Security Council

Ambassador Enrique A. Manalo (Photo: VNA)

So said Ambassador Enrique A. Manalo, Head of the Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the UN and representative of ASEAN, ahead of the end of Vietnam’s term as non-permanent member of the UNSC on December 31.

According to Ambassador Enrique A. Manalo, the fact that Vietnam was elected and assumed the position of a non-permanent member of the UNSC in the past two years is not only a strong development step for Vietnam, but also for the whole ASEAN community. Having both Vietnam and Indonesia together as non-permanent members of the UNSC last year (2020) has greatly enhanced ASEAN's position, especially in contributing to solving international problems. Taking the position of a member of the UNSC, especially as the rotating chair of the UNSC, Vietnam has really brought many benefits to the ASEAN community, and at the same time helped strengthen the relationship between the UN and ASEAN. Vietnam has made very active contributions to other countries, especially ASEAN countries.

Among the initiatives that Vietnam has proposed at the UNSC, Ambassador Enrique A. Manalo highly appreciated the initiatives to strengthen the cooperation relationship between the UN and ASEAN, as well as regional organizations that Vietnam has launched. He emphasized that with Vietnam as a member of the Security Council, the cooperation agreement between the UN and ASEAN has been raised to a new level. Vietnam has exerted a real influence when the UNSC discussed international issues, especially regional issues in Asia.

Sharing more clearly about the importance of Vietnam's initiative to strengthen cooperation between the UN and regional organizations in solving international problems, Ambassador Enrique A. Manalo emphasized that when Vietnam raised the ASEAN issue on the agenda of the UNSC, Vietnam helped raise the image of ASEAN to a new height, raising the level of relations of regional organizations with the UN, especially the UNSC. With such a very important step, regional organizations have a much larger voice and role in solving world problems such as global security or climate change, and the issues of the region were addressed in a more satisfactory manner.

Assessing that Vietnam has fulfilled its commitments when it was trusted to be elected to the UNSC, Ambassador Enrique A. Manalo affirmed that Vietnam is a very loyal member of ASEAN and when it was elected to the UNSC, Vietnam has often regularly updated information to ASEAN on issues being discussed in the UNSC so that countries can better understand related decisions./.