UN Chief expresses concern over East Sea disputes

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has reiterated his agency’s willingness to support the promotion of dispute resolution between parties concerned through peaceful means at a May 23 meeting with Deputy Prime Minister cum Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh in Hanoi.

At the meeting, both sides discussed issues of the UN and international community concern and agreed on the importance and necessity of adopting the post 2015 Development Agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals in September 2015, and achieving a new international agreement on response to climate change in December 2015.

As one of the developing countries most severely affected by climate change, particularly the risk of sea level rise, Vietnam has been actively carried out strong response measures to achieve these goals, Minh told the UN Chief.

Minh hailed the effective support the UN gave to Vietnam, including “The One Plan” initiative and the building of One UN House in Vietnam.

FM Minh exchanged views with his guest on the recent tensions in the East Sea, asking the UN to provide continual support for settlement of disputes by peaceful measures in accordance with international law.

For his part, Ban Ki-moon said he hopes ASEAN and China would soon reach a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

He also applauded the role and active contributions of Vietnam to the UN activities such as the participation in the UN Human Rights Council in the 2014-2016 tenure and the peacekeeping missions as well as its efforts to fulfill numerous Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ahead of schedule and actively promote the deployment of “The One Plan” initiative.

After the talks, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Deputy PM Pham Binh Minh attended a ceremony to inaugurate the One UN House and a one-year review conference of the UN peace-keeping mission.

VOV