President meets UN Secretary-General, Sri Lankan President on sidelines of Belt and Road Forum

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 3rd Belt and Road Forum on International Cooperation in Beijing, China.

Vo hailed the role and contributions of the UN Secretary-General and the UN for international peace, stability and security.

Viet Nam always considers the UN the leading organization for peace, cooperation and development in the world and a trusted, faithful and long-term friend of the nation in every stage of national development, asserted the Vietnamese leader. 

Viet Nam is actively working together with UN agencies to promote the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), climate change adaption, digital transformation, green transition, ensuring social justice and participating in peace-keeping activities, noted the President. 

He suggested the UN continue supporting the nation in realizing international commitments, including the Our Common Agenda (OCA) and Viet Nam's national development goals. 

António Guterres, for his part, expressed thanks for the cooperation and support of Viet Nam for the UN across all prioritized areas, particularly in terms of peace-keeping, international security, climate change response, sustainable development, water security and food security.  

Viet Nam is a good model for many developing nations to follow and a crucial partner of the UN, he noted, expecting that Viet Nam would make greater contributions to global governance. 

 The UN Secretary-General agreed with Viet Nam's standpoint to uphold multilateralism and international law, and to improve the effectiveness of international institutions. 

He expressed his hope that Viet Nam would successfully carry out goals on peace, and prosperity and continue to be a responsible member of the international community. 

António Guterres affirmed to do his utmost to assist Viet Nam in its implementation process of its commitments on sustainable development and climate change adaption. 

Both sides underlined the necessity of upholding the compliance with international law and the role of dialogue mechanisms, and promoting cooperation between regional organizations and the UN. 

The same day, President Vo had a meeting with Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, during which Vo affirmed Viet Nam's policy of attaching importance to the traditional friendship and multi-faceted cooperation with Sri Lanka, expressing his hope that Viet Nam-Sri Lanka relations would be further strengthened to meet practical interests of their peoples. 

Under the leadership of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Vo expected that Sri Lanka will overcome difficulties to achieve its socio-economic development goals. 

To further promote the bilateral ties in the time ahead, Vo recommended both nations expand collaboration across all sectors, effectively implement current bilateral cooperation mechanisms and facilitate trade and investment. 

He asked for deepening collaboration in potential areas such as tourism, education-training, culture, religion and people-to-people links. 

For his part, Ranil Wickremesinghe reiterated that Sri Lanka always wishes to step up cooperation with Viet Nam, a very dynamic developing country with many similarities with Sri Lanka. 

He expressed his wish to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). 

They pledged to direct the two foreign ministries to promote the role of the Viet Nam Joint Committee in fostering bilateral cooperation across all realms and boost coordination and mutual support at multi-lateral forums, including the UN and the Non-Aligned Movement./.