At the meeting, President Triet briefed the UN General Secretary of the political, economic, cultural and social achievements that Viet Nam has made during the past 20 years of reforms.

He went on to relay Viet Nam's foreign policy of openness, diversification and multilateralisation of international relations and active integration into the international economy.

Viet Nam, which is a full member of many important regional and international organisations such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, the Non-aligned Movement (NAM) and the International Organisation of Francophone Countries, is eager to contribute to world issues, the President said.

The Vietnamese state leader said the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have been integrated into socio-economic development and poverty reduction programmes in Viet Nam as well as the country's cooperation projects with foreign partners.

He also affirmed Viet Nam's determination to implement the MDGs and expressed his administrations desire to continue to receive support from the UN in the future.

President Triet went on to convey to the UN's top diplomat his country's assurance that Viet Nam would be capable of the great responsibilities needed if it were to win a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2008-2009 term.

For his part, UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon said his top priority has been given to UN reforms. He applauded Viet Nam's involvement in the implementation of the "One United Nations" initiative and expressed his belief that Viet Nam will become a successful model to use.

There are now 20 UN agencies operating in Viet Nam with many overlapping activities. The establishment of "One United Nations" would limit the instances of overlapping and increase UN's effectiveness, he said.

The UN Secretary General also applauded Viet Nam as being a pioneer in its Millennium Statements work and should be used as an example for many of the worlds countries.(VNA)