Over the last four decades, ASEAN-United Nations relations have become a role model for cooperation between the UN and regional organizations, said Vice Foreign Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Quoc Dung.
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| Vice Foreign Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Quoc Dung speaks at the opening of Seventh ASEAN-UN Workshop - 5th regional dialogue on political-security cooperation held in Hanoi on December 3-4__Photo: VNA |
He made the statement at the Seventh ASEAN-UN Workshop - 5th regional dialogue on political-security cooperation which was held in Hanoi on December 3-4.
The workshop aimed at discussing cooperation in support of the work of the ASEAN-Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR), including in conflict management and conflict resolution. It was organized by the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry and the UN Departments of Political and Peace building Affairs and Peace Operations.
The workshop drew more than 80 people including former senior officials, experts from ASEAN institutions, the UN as well as former Secretary-General of ASEAN Ong Keng Yong and Le Luong Minh.
Dung said the AIPR has become ASEAN’s knowledge hub and center of excellence in building capacity on conflict resolution and strengthening peace-oriented values towards harmony, peace, security and stability in the region and beyond.
Given growing uncertainties from rapid development, he called for closer collaboration between ASEAN and the UN to enhance political and security cooperation in conflict prevention.
“The ASEAN success story lies in its ability to help maintain regional peace and stability over the past decades. It has also reached out to contribute to global efforts for peace and security, including through participation in UN peacekeeping operations.”
“With two ASEAN member states, Indonesia and Vietnam, sitting on the UNSC in 2020, ASEAN can do more to synergize ASEAN’s regional efforts with the global cause led by the UN to ensure that international peace and security are secured and sustained amid fast-changing and complex developments. As the ASEAN Chair and non-permanent member of the UNSC in 2020, Vietnam is committed to doing its utmost in this regard,” Dung said.
Addressing the workshop, Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General of ASEAN, highlighted the importance of collaboration in prevention of conflict through international diplomacy, research, knowledge sharing and networking.
“As Southeast Asia lies in the center of one of the most dynamic regions in the world, ASEAN will continue to promote peace and stability as well as economic prosperity in the region and continue to reinforce the ASEAN-centered regional architecture,” he said.
Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations Khaled Khiari said strengthening cooperation with regional organizations was important tor the United Nations to address complex challenges to peace and security.
“As ASEAN has become increasingly engaged in advancing global and regional approaches to peace and security, the ASEAN-Institute for Peace and Reconciliation has emerged as its first formalized platform for conflict prevention, including research in experiences of conflict resolution in the region,” he said.
He said the UN was ready to push collaboration with the ASEAN and AIPR, including the newly-established ASEAN Women’s Peace Registry.- (VNS/VLLF)
