The General Debate is a platform for countries to present their views and seek common ground on global challenges. With the world now facing some profound challenges, more than 130 heads of state and prime ministers will discuss the theme "Restoring trust, managing transformation: a United Nations that delivers for all".
Vietnam is part of the world’s changing landscape
Geopolitical conflicts and divisions, poverty, inequality, climate change, declining resources, and rapid advances in science and technology are creating complex challenges which no country can address alone. They require dialogue, cooperation, and multilateral solutions.
For Vietnam, these issues are directly linked to its development. An open economy needs a peaceful, stable international environment conducive to cooperation. A country highly vulnerable to climate change needs international coordination and resources. And as Vietnam accelerates digital transformation and develops AI and other advanced technologies, it needs to be involved in creating the rules and frameworks that shape the world’s changing realities.
Vietnam’s participation in the global discussion involves both telling its own story and working with other countries to find solutions.
Ambassador Do Hung Viet, Head of Vietnam’s Permanent Delegation to the UN, said: “The message delivered by Party General Secretary and President To Lam at the UN General Assembly High-Level Week is comprehensive and overarching. It focuses on strengthening trust and joint action among countries so that the transitions and transformations we are witnessing today can create more opportunities for all countries and all people to seize and benefit from them, ensuring that no country and no individual is left behind or excluded from the achievements of development.”
That message reflects Vietnam’s approach to national development, which must go hand in hand with international cooperation and responsibility for shared global challenges.
UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam Pauline Tamesis highlighted the significance of Vietnam’s participation in this year’s High-Level Week: "The high-level delegation from Vietnam headed by no other than the Party General Secretary and State President sends a very clear and strong message about the importance that the country attaches to the United Nations and to multilateralism, at a time when international cooperation is needed more than ever. It expresses commitment very clearly when in his speech he affirms Vietnam's support for an equal, fair multilateral system of the UN at its center."
Bringing Vietnam’s aspirations into the global mainstream
Vietnam’s voice at the UN has been shaped by its own development journey. More than four decades of national renewal have transformed Vietnam from a country facing severe post-war difficulties into a deeply integrated economy increasingly active in multilateral mechanisms and taking on greater international responsibilities. As Vietnam has developed, so too has its relationship with the UN.
Ms Pauline Tamesis said: "Today, we see Vietnam moving from a beneficiary of international cooperation to becoming an active contributor to global solutions. The partnership is increasingly becoming a ‘two-way partnership.’ The UN is supporting Vietnam’s development aspirations, while Vietnam is contributing its experience, leadership, and solutions to our shared global agenda as Vietnam enters a new era of development. The UN looks forward to a partnership that evolves with Vietnam, while enabling the country to make even greater contributions to peace, sustainable development, and international cooperation.”
Entering a new era of development, Vietnam is pursuing the aspiration of becoming a developed, prosperous country with a better quality of life and, at the same time, living in a peaceful, stable international environment where countries large and small are respected, international law is upheld, and shared challenges are addressed through dialogue and cooperation.
That gives Party leader and President Lam’s visit to New York a broader significance. At the UN, Vietnam is sharing what it has achieved, what it is doing now, and what it hopes to build with other countries, aligning its national aspirations with the global pursuit of peace, development, and cooperation.
