The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) appreciates the
importance of the United Nations (UN) operational activities for
development and believes that strengthening development cooperation is
instrumental to consolidating and enhancing the mutually reinforcing
pillars of the work of the UN.
Ambassador Nguyen Phuong Nga, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN, made the remark on behalf of ASEAN at a discussion on operational
activities for development within the 69th session of the UN General
Assembly in New York, the US, on October 29.
She
said ASEAN welcomes the UN’s continuous commitment and invite the UN
system to work even more closely with ASEAN to implement the Joint
Declaration on Comprehensive Partnership between the two organisations.
ASEAN shared the concern of many countries about
declining financial resources for development plans and called on
developed countries to meet their ODA commitments and the UN system to
focus on capacity building, which is crucial for the long-term ability
to address development challenges by developing countries, she added.
The bloc strongly supports actions and initiatives to
strengthen UN system-wide coherence at all levels, particularly the
“Delivering as One” approach, which underlines the importance of strong
national ownership and alignment of UN programming with national plans
and priorities.
The diplomat further said ASEAN encourages UN member states to promote South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation.
During the discussion, representatives from UN member states voiced
their concern over the stagnation in funding for UN operational
activities, which poses difficulties for the implementation of
development programmes and projects.
They called on
donor countries to honour their commitment to provide financing for the
UN’s budget and the UN Development Programme in order to ensure their
effective operation.
On October 28, Ambassador Nga
also gave a speech at another discussion on agriculture development,
food security and nutrition.
She shared Vietnam’s experience in
ensuring food security and agricultural development, especially its
strong political commitment to overall poverty eradication and policies
facilitating production to contribute to regional and international food
security.-VNA