Việt Nam consistent with UN peacekeeping commitments, ready to cope with COVID-19

Việt Nam has sent a total of 180 military officers and staff from the Ministry of National Defence to join United Nations peacekeeping missions in the Central African Republic, South Sudan and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, US, since 2014.

Sending troops to join United Nations’ peacekeeping missions is a new task assigned to the Department of Peace Keeping Mission. This is not only a military task but also a responsibility of Việt Nam to the international community as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council and a member of the UN.

We have performed our duties and our work has been recognised by the international community. They want to hear the voice of Việt Nam and see our engagements in the UN’s peacekeeping operations. This is an opportunity for us to perform our duties and for Vietnamese culture to be widely known by international friends.

Our country has complete peace now and we have better chance to perform our duties with countries, especially African and Latin American nations, which supported us in the wars to liberate our country and protect our peace. These countries are yet to have peace and are still suffering from the consequences of the conflicts and non-traditional challenges. They are desperate for the support from the international community. The presence of Việt Nam in humanitarian activities including military medical operations, engineers, military observation showed our support for the eight millennium goals that UN set to achieve.

The peacekeeping task also helps to enhance Việt Nam’s image, and express the aspirations of Uncle Hồ when he sent a letter to the UN in 1946, expressing his wish that Việt Nam would become a member of the UN. Việt Nam is now a member of the UN providing significant contributions that have been recognised by the international community.

In the international integration process, sending troops to join the UN’s peacekeeping operations helps us ensure security and safety, and contribute to the handling of consequences of non-traditional challenges, among others.

I hope they will make new breakthroughs. COVID-19 testing is not included in our commitments with the UN but they required our staff to have COVID-19 testing capacity. It’s not merely taking samples and sending them to the capital city and then waiting for ten days for the results.

I also expect that they can manage to have a separate quarantine area so we can send suspected infected patients to these facilities to prevent the transmission of the virus among doctors, medical workers and patients.

I also hope that this team will make more contributions to the mission and contribute more ideas and solutions regarding COVID-19 prevention and control there./.