Mr. Chairman,

Excellencies, Heads of States and Governments,

Distinguished Delegates,

On behalf of the Vietnamese Delegation, I wish to extend our deep appreciation to the Government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the warm hospitality and dedicated efforts in their hosting the Sixteenth Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement. I also wish to convey the deepest sympathy to the host country and people for the heavy losses caused to them by the recent earthquakes.

We would like to join other delegations in commending the Arab Republic of Egypt for the active role it has played as Chair of the Movement over the last three years, leading the Movement in the implementation of the Plan of Action adopted at the Fifteenth Summit at Sharm el-Sheikh. We wish the Islamic Republic of Iran great success in its capacity as the new Chair of the Movement. 

Viet Nam warmly congratulates and welcomes Azerbaijan and Fiji to the Non-Aligned family.

Mr. Chairman,

Since our last Summit, the international community has made concerted efforts in dealing with numerous challenges, both old and new. These have been reflected in the increased recourse to multilateralism and the promotion of settlement of disputes through peaceful means and the rule of law. New impetus has been given to processes to promote sustainable development and deal with the negative impact of climate change.  

However, today's world remains highly complex. While a number of long-existing wars and conflicts continue or even intensify, new ones have flared up in various parts of the world. These wars and conflicts have not only undermined international peace and security, but also have been associated in many cases with the infringement upon the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of NAM member countries. The combined impacts of the global economic downturn since 2008, negative aspects of globalization, climate change, epidemics, and food and energy insecurity have become more acute in developing countries, exacerbating poverty, economic and social problems in these countries. 

Viet Nam shares the view of other NAM member countries, as contained in the Draft Final Document, that the present global scenario largely derives from the continuing unequal terms of trade, the lack of cooperation from developed countries, coercive and unilateral measures imposed by some of them and the use of force or threat of use of force. 
 
Mr. Chairman, 

During the last three years, many NAM member countries energetically sought ways to deal with difficulties in their own countries, and at the same time coordinated with each other both at international forums and on the ground to help formulate and implement measures to bring about positive outcomes of common endeavours of the international community in many areas. NAM important contribution in this difficult period greatly adds to the proud traditions of the Movement of which we celebrated the Fiftieth Anniversary just last year. The Movement’s successes underline its vitality, relevance and empower member countries to redouble our efforts and realize to a greater extent our potential. 

The promotion of international peace and security continues to be the priority area of work for our Movement.  More than ever, it requires the upholding of the Bandung Principles, especially those of respect of national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-intervention in the internal affairs of States, non-use or threat of use of force and peaceful settlement of disputes. These are both founding and guiding principles of the Movement and reinforce the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter and international law. History has shown that lasting peace could only be achieved through the determined and persistent efforts to prevent war, manifestation of good-will and thus the active use of the means of negotiations, dialogue and cooperation.

Along this line, we need to reinvigorate our stance towards enhancing the rule of law at the international level with a view to creating a more equitable and enabling environment for our countries and the Movement. We need to coordinate our joint efforts to this end at all relevant global fora, including the High-Level Meeting of the UN General Assembly on the Rule of Law next month and the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Opening for Signature of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in December 2012.

As  a State Party to the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia and  the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Viet Nam is firmly  committed to the peaceful settlement of sovereignty and territorial disputes in accordance with international law, including the UNCLOS. In this regard, we reiterate our principled positions on the importance of the maintenance of peace and stability, peaceful settlement of disputes in the Eastern Sea (also known as the South China Sea), and call for full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), the UNCLOS, and early agreement on the Code of Conduct in South China Sea. We welcome the related positions of the Movement contained in the Final Document of this Summit.

Viet Nam shares NAM’s concern over the escalation of tension and violence in many regions, particularly the Middle East and North Africa, which is causing multi-faceted serious consequences to the region, countries concerned and the life of the people. We call for the resolute support for the just struggle of the Palestinian people for the realization of their right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent and sovereign State. We need to strengthen our solidarity in rejecting  unilateral sanctions imposed on a number of NAM countries, especially the long-standing embargo against our brotherly Cuba, which have caused enormous suffering to these fellow member countries and people.

Dealing with the multiple economic and social difficulties continues to require both immediate and long-term effective measures to alleviate poverty, reduce inequality, including gender inequality, mitigate the negative impact of climate change, maintain macro-economic balance and promote sustainable development that is people-centred, inclusive and greener. In this connection, it is important to make full use of NAM’s large membership across all continents to help each other advance sustainable growth and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 through, inter alia, sharing expertise, best practices, building capacity, transferring technologies within different innovative frameworks of South-South cooperation and other global partnerships.

As energy is essential to development and life of people, Viet Nam supports NAM’s efforts to shape a comprehensive United Nations energy agenda, including the creation of an effective mechanism to transfer advanced energy technologies to developing countries with the aim of achieving MDGs and dealing effectively with the challenges of climate change. To effectively advance this and other objectives, NAM needs to continue its contribution to the strengthening of all forms of partnership for development, namely North-South, South-South and tripartite cooperation to achieve sustainable development and promote equal and win-win international economic relations.

Viet Nam fully supports initiatives aimed at strengthening global governance as underlined by the theme of our Summit, namely “Lasting peace through joint global governance,” since it is imperative for us to consolidate processes and mechanisms promoting concerted efforts at national, regional and global levels. It requires the continued revitalization and enhanced effectiveness of the Movement as the principal political platform of the developing countries at multilateral fora.  For that purpose, our Movement needs to resolutely pursue our principled positions on important issues related to international peace and security and intensify contribution to reforming the international economic, trade and financial architectures in the interests of global sustainable development and for fair opportunities for development of developing countries.

For the United Nations that NAM has long considered as the forum having a central role in global governance, we need to advance the comprehensive, transparent, inclusive and balanced reforms to make the United Nations more effective in the fulfilment of the purposes and objectives that member states have set for the organization and in the interests of all member states.  Accordingly, the reforms should address, inter alia, the agenda of and relationship among the principal organs, methods of work and other important issues such as the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly, equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council, strengthening the Economic and Social Council, their subsidiary bodies, including the Human Rights Council, and the Secretariat.

Mr. Chairman,

After 25 years of comprehensive renewal, Viet Nam has recorded immense achievements in many areas. However, the current global economic turbulences, climate change, epidemics, food and energy insecurity have had certain adverse impacts on Viet Nam's economic development and social life. Against this background, Viet Nam has implemented synchronous and bold measures focusing on restructuring the economy with a view to enhancing macro-economic stability and growth quality. Thanks to these measures, the macroeconomic situation has been largely improved, high inflation curbed and economic growth maintained. Important achievements have also been obtained in the areas of social protection, social equity and progress. Viet Nam has achieved many MDGs ahead of the 2015 deadline. 

Viet Nam pursues the foreign policy of independence, peace, cooperation, development, and proactive international integration as an active, reliable and responsible member of the Movement and the international community at large. Along this line, Viet Nam has actively promoted friendly and reliable cooperation relations with fellow NAM member countries and other countries around the world.  Viet Nam’s successfully hosting of the Forum “Viet Nam - Latin America and the Caribbean: Trade and Investment Partnership for Development” in Ha Noi last July and the Second Viet Nam – Africa Forum also in Ha Noi in August 2010 under the theme “Viet Nam – Africa Cooperation for Mutual Sustainable Development” are the most recent examples of our endeavours in that direction.

Mr. Chairman,

Last year when celebrating the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Movement, we all agreed that with our solidarity and faithfulness to the Bandung Principles, the Movement had stood the test of time and become the most powerful force for change in international political life. We believe that NAM’s solidarity and the Founding Principles will be the key for further success of the Movement on the way ahead, especially in overcoming challenges in the Movement’s noble mission to defend and promote the legitimate interests of its member countries, that is peace, development and social progress.

Thank you for your kind attention.