Ambassador Minh was speaking at an informal meeting of the UN General Assembly Concerning the Draft Outcome Document of the High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on July 1.

The Vietnamese ambassador said that development should be the central issue and the document of the High-level Plenary Meeting should stipulate concrete measures to overcome shortcomings in the implementation of all internationally agreed development goals, especially the Millennium Development Goals.

Viet Nam is against the imposition of conditionalities, which does not conform to the principle that each country has the sovereign right and should be free to formulate its own development policies and strategies in keeping with its specific circumstances, Minh said.

On peace and collective security, the ambassador stressed that the relevant provisions of the Charter of the UN regarding the use of force are sufficient to address the full range of security threats and the use of force should be considered as an instrument of last resort. Viet Nam rejects terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and it is necessary for the UN to elaborate a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy, and to address a wide range of important issues such as the root causes of terrorism and State terrorism, he said.

Concerning disarmament and non-proliferation, the Vietnamese representative said: "Viet Nam supports the proposal to initiate multilateral negotiations aimed at creating an international, universal and non-discriminatory binding agreement on security-guarantees that nuclear-weapons-States should extend to non-clear-weapons-States."

On UN institutional reforms, Minh said any reform proposal must aim at restoring the authority of the General Assembly as the chief deliberative, policy-making and representative organ of the United Nations. The reform of the UN Security Council, whether in its methods of work or in the expansion of its membership, both permanent and non-permanent, should make the Council more democratic, more transparent and more representative, he stressed.

He said Viet Nam welcomes the draft document of the high-level plenary meeting, which reaffirms the role of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) as the principal organ for coordination, policy review and policy dialogue, for economic and social development and for implementing international development goals agreed at major summits and conferences.

Ambassador Minh proposed that the preparation of the next draft of the outcome document, that all views and suggestions of member States expressed during the process of consultations, including those expressed during these informal meetings, will be taken fully into account.