Vietnam, 2004

At the outset,

allow me, on behalf of the Vietnamese delegation, to

warmly congratulate you, Sir, an eminent son of Gabon

and of Africa, with which Viet Nam has always

enjoyed warm sentiments and brotherly relations, on

your election as President of the General Assembly at

its fifty-ninth session. I am confident that, under your

able guidance, this session will be crowned with fine

success. I also take this opportunity to express our high

29

appreciation for the tremendous efforts and

contributions made by the previous President,

Mr. Julian Hunte, to the work of the fifty-eighth

session of the General Assembly.

As the fifth year of the twenty-first century

approaches, we all cannot help asking ourselves

whether the world is a safer, fairer or — in a more

comprehensive assessment — better place for our

peoples to live in. With all that has happened over the

last year, unfortunately, the answer cannot be

affirmative.

The recent barbaric and inhuman massacre of

hostages at the school in Beslan, Russia, its scale and

the manner in which it was committed show that

terrorism has become more brutal than ever and that it

is spreading to almost every corner of the world and

sparing no nation. At this forum, we wish to reaffirm

the position of the Vietnamese Government denouncing

every act of terrorism. We urge the international

community to further strengthen cooperation with a

view to eliminating terrorism from our civilized world.

We have more than once stated our fundamental

position that, if it is to enjoy broad support and

participation and therefore be effective, the fight

against terrorism must be pursued in conformity with

the provisions of the United Nations Charter and free

from selectivity and double standards.

A serious review would reveal that this is not a

situation we can claim to have today. For a second time

in two years, last April, in pursuit of their secessionist

aim of creating a so-called independent State of Degar,

Kok Ksor and the organization he created, the

Montagnard Foundation, staged a violent terrorist riot

in the central highlands of Viet Nam, seriously

threatening the security and territorial integrity of our

country. And still today, they continue to enjoy

unjustified protection by certain forces.

While encouraged by the trend of enhanced

cooperation and friendship among countries and

regions, we are equally concerned about conflicts and

other threats mounting in different areas, especially in

the Middle East and Africa. The Iraqi people are yet to

know genuine peace. Non-traditional security threats,

such as narcotics, the spread of diseases, transnational

organized crime and environmental degradation,

continue to affect adversely the life of peoples and the

development of nations.

The year 2005 is approaching. We are to review

the realization of the Millennium Development Goals.

An undeniable fact is that the window of opportunity

for the economic development and integration of

developing countries has become narrower, while the

gap between the rich countries and the poor countries

and that between the rich and the poor within countries

are increasingly wider. According to a recent report by

the United Nations Conference on Trade and

Development, the gap between the world’s richest and

poorest countries at present is 74-fold. That being the

reality, what is discouraging is that the proportion of

resources being utilized for economic development is

negatively imbalanced. Last year, for example, military

expenditures by rich countries amounted to more than

$700 billion, which was 10 times higher than the total

amount of their official development assistance for

developing nations.

Instead of receiving a stronger commitment to

development assistance, developing countries have

fallen victim to unfair practices in international trade.

A case in point is the application of protectionist

measures under the form of anti-dumping duties

imposed on Viet Nam’s catfish and shrimp, as well as

similar products of other developing countries. The

unfair imposition of anti-dumping duties on Viet

Nam’s shrimp export by the United States has inflicted

losses on 3.5 million poor Vietnamese farmers who

earn their living directly or indirectly from the shrimp

industry. That not only runs counter to the principles of

the World Trade Organization (WTO), but also

undermines the poverty-reduction efforts of the

Vietnamese Government, as well as the results of

technical assistance provided by such international

bodies as the World Bank, the International Monetary

Fund, the Asian Development Bank and various United

Nations agencies.

In a world where injustice and uncertainties

remain, it is both a desire of all nations and a primary

task of the international community to build a more

peaceful and fairer environment conducive to

development and prosperity. Such an environment can

be created only if all nations strictly comply with the

fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter

and international law, of which respect for the national

independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and

non-interference in the internal affairs of nations are

most important. As the world’s largest multilateral

30

Organization, the United Nation is the sole entity fully

capable of creating that new environment.

Viet Nam holds that, to fulfil that crucial role, the

United Nations should be reformed in a way that will

improve its effectiveness and democracy. We highly

appreciate the ongoing efforts of the High-Level Panel

on Threats, Challenges and Change and hope that the

Panel will be able to put forth recommendations that

can serve as a good basis for member States to hold in-

depth discussions with a view to arriving at concrete

measures to be implemented soon, thus meeting the

expectations of the world public at large of a new,

effective and more democratic United Nations.

In that connection, Viet Nam is of the view that,

if the Security Council’s democracy, effectiveness and

transparency are to be enhanced and if it is to truly act

on behalf of all United Nations Members, as stated in

the Charter, both the non-permanent and the permanent

membership of the Security Council should be enlarged

and developing countries more adequately represented

in that important body. We wish to reiterate our support

for Japan, Germany, India and other capable countries

from different continents becoming permanent

members of the Security Council once it is enlarged.

A more peaceful, fairer and more favourable

environment for development requires international

economic relations based on equality, mutual benefits,

shared responsibilities and the realization of

commitments. Developed countries should seriously

seek to fulfil their commitments to allocating 0.7 per

cent of their gross domestic product to official

development assistance; provide broader, faster and

deeper debt relief to poor nations; finance development

projects; and create fairer and more favourable

conditions for developing nations to access the world

market and to join the WTO.

Viet Nam holds that regional and interregional

cooperation and new partnerships between developed

and developing countries are effective measures for

putting into place fair and favourable conditions for

development and for making sure that all nations will

benefit from the current process of globalization. We

welcome the initiative on a new strategic partnership

between Asia and Africa that is being discussed among

countries of the two continents. The initiative, the New

Partnership for Africa’s Development, is highly

commendable. Viet Nam attaches great importance to

promoting South-South cooperation, especially with

African countries, as manifested in the “two plus one”

formula, in which Viet Nam and an African country,

with the participation of the Food and Agriculture

Organization of the United Nations, cooperate in

agricultural development. With a view to increasing

cooperation with and assistance to developing nations,

we call for an end to unjust embargoes, especially the

unilateral embargo against Cuba, which has been in

place for years now and caused untold difficulties and

suffering for the Cuban people.

It is Viet Nam’s consistent policy to support the

just cause of the Palestinian people in the struggle for

their inalienable rights. We call on the parties

concerned to refrain from and cease acts of violence

and actively to participate in the implementation of the

road map for peace towards a just and lasting solution

that takes into account the interests of the parties

concerned for the sake of peace and stability in the

Middle East.

Restoring peace and security and reconstructing

Iraq are pressing needs of the people of that country at

present. Viet Nam is concerned about the escalating

violence against innocent civilians. We hope that the

situation in Iraq will soon be stabilized so that the Iraqi

people can focus on their national reconstruction and

development.

The United Nations should play a more active

role in Iraq, commensurate with its mandate. Viet Nam

attended the conference on the reconstruction of Iraq

and is willing to involve itself more actively in that

process.

In our national reform and development process

over the past 18 years, we have surmounted enormous

challenges to realize the goal of a rich people, a strong

country, a just, democratic and civilized society.

Encouraging results have been recorded. Over the past

10 years, the average annual growth of our gross

domestic product has been maintained at as high as 7.4

per cent, with the number of poor households reduced

by half. Special importance has been given to people-

centred development. We are resolved to sustain high

economic growth in combination with the development

of culture, the advancement of social progress and

equality, the improvement of living conditions for the

people and, most important, the achievement of the

goal of becoming an industrialized country by 2020.

Given our substantial initial achievements and the

appropriate path on which we have embarked, the

31

United Nations Development Programme, in its third

report on the implementation of the Millennium

Development Goals in Viet Nam in 2003, assessed that

Viet Nam is capable of overcoming its challenges to

reach the Goals set in the Millennium Declaration. We

wish to take this opportunity to express our deep

gratitude to the United Nations agencies for their

effective assistance. The United Nations agencies in

Viet Nam have taken important steps to further

enhance cooperation effectiveness, especially those

within the United Nations Development Assistance

Framework. We are committed to continuing to work

with them in striving for the achievement of the

Millennium Development Goals.

In its reform process, Viet Nam pursues a foreign

policy of openness, independence, sovereignty and the

diversification and multilateralization of relations, and

is willing to be a friend to and reliable partner of all

countries striving for independence, peace,

development and cooperation. Increasing regional and

interregional cooperation is a consistent policy and an

inseparable component of the Vietnamese

Government’s policy towards greater international

integration. Viet Nam is actively participating in

economic cooperation activities within the frameworks

of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the

Asia-Pacific Conference on Electron Microscopy and

the Association of South-East Asian Nations

(ASEAN).

Within ASEAN, Viet Nam works closely with

other ASEAN countries to promote regional

cooperation through such initiatives as the creation of

the ASEAN security community, the ASEAN economic

community and the ASEAN socio-cultural community,

the Initiative for ASEAN Integration, the initiative on

sub-Mekong regional cooperation, and development

triangles. ASEAN attaches great importance to

promoting its relationship with dialogue partners.

Active steps are being taken to establish free-trade

areas between ASEAN and China, Japan and the

Republic of Korea, and to promote closer economic

partnership with the United States, the European

Union, Russia and India, including free-trade areas.

Viet Nam believes that multifaceted cooperation in

South-East Asia will make important contributions to

building a peaceful, fair and favourable environment

for regional countries.

As evidence of its determination to participate

more actively in international and interregional

cooperation frameworks, Viet Nam is going to host the

Fifth Asia-Europe Summit in Hanoi this October and

the APEC Summit in 2006. We are standing for

election to a non-permanent seat in the Security

Council for the term 2008-2009. In undertaking those

important efforts, we look forward to enjoying the

continued support and cooperation of the international

community.

Our global village longs for a more peaceful,

stable and favourable environment for development

and shared prosperity. Striving together, we will turn

that dream into reality.