Welcome the Visit by the Delegation of the Central Youth Union to the Green One UN House

Welcome to the Green One UN House!

It is a pleasure to receive all of you here - youth leaders from diverse backgrounds. Today’s event demonstrates the level of international integration and globalization that the Central Youth Union and United Nations in Viet Nam have been able to achieve.

Before I deliver my speech, I wanted to ask you a few questions. There are no right or wrong answers.

First, what do you know about the UN, in Viet Nam or generally?

Second, what are you curious to learn about the UN in Viet Nam for today’s visit?

Third, how do you want to continue engaging with the UN after this visit?

Thank you for sharing your insights.

Let’s start with some history.

It may be worthwhile looking back at Viet Nam’s dynamic, evolving and valued membership in the UN over the last 45 years.

Viet Nam officially joined the UN in September 1977, two years after the end of the war in 1975. Some agencies were already actively supporting Viet Nam prior to this. Over the past 46 years, Viet Nam has transformed from a country reliant on UN assistance, to one with increasing capacity to strongly contribute to regional and global agendas.

Every five years, the UN and the Government formulate and agree on a UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework. The current Cooperation Framework or CF covers the period 2022-2026, and it details what and how the UN agencies here today are committed to continue to work hand in hand with the Government to support Viet Nam to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs. Specifically, we prioritize supporting the Government in:

1. ensuring inclusive social policies;
2. protecting the environment, taking climate action and building resilience from disaster risks;
3. expanding economic opportunities;
4. strengthening governance and access to justice.

Our partnership is two-way. While we support the government and people of Viet Nam, Viet Nam is at the same time a responsible member and a strong supporter of multilateralism anchored in the United Nations.

Today, Viet Nam plays an important regional and global role, including as member of the Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 term, a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2020-2021 term, and as the ASEAN Chair for 2020.  We at the UN highly value Viet Nam’s increasing contributions to the Organisation, including to UN peace operations.

I was interested to hear if anyone would mention the SDGs.

Last week was an important time for the UN. There were a number of high-level events at the UN General Assembly in New York.  At the SDG Summit, Viet Nam reiterated its unwavering commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, making national commitments to SDG Acceleration.  Viet Nam continues to move towards its net-zero emission target by 2050, and coal phase-out by the 2040s.   Viet Nam is moving towards inclusiveness, sustainability and resilience.  But to achieve these noble goals, Viet Nam needs to make enormous amount of investment in priority areas by adopting the whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach. 

In simple terms, the SDGs will not be achieved by one Ministry in the Government, it will need every single one of us to take action. We all need to participate and contribute – making our choices count.

I want to see you, the youth representatives, step up to make substantive contributions to the achievement of these goals. How do you think you can contribute? 

The Vietnamese government has recognized the massive potential of the youth.  For our part, the UN in Viet Nam has long remained a trusted partner of Viet Nam in addressing youth-related issues.  While many UN Agencies partner with the youth, we take a One UN approach, especially through the Thematic Group on Youth (TGY). In this way, the UN contributes to the improvements of national laws, policies and programmes on adolescents and youth development, and provide direct support to youth and youth-led organizations to strengthen this participation and ensure youth engagement in the SDG implementation.

Viet Nam is blessed with a vast pool of young talent – there are 22.1 million individuals aged between 16 and 30.  This potential needs to be seized towards the SDG attainment by 2030 and beyond, as the country is aging rapidly at the same time. 

Throughout every UN-led youth initiative, the young generation has co-led, co-designed and participated at the forefront. Such active engagement is crucial for national development. With the authorities investing in quality education and fostering an enabling environment for youth engagement, the youth generation will be well equipped to play a leading role in driving a just and equitable transitions towards a sustainable future in Viet Nam.

UN-led youth programs and projects can provide opportunities for the youth to foster innovative and transformative changes that Viet Nam sorely needs. Young people contribute significantly to the outcomes of UN work through volunteering, providing unique perspectives and diverse knowledge on critical issues, from environmental protection to climate action; from quality education for all children to food security; from digital transformation to jobs and social protection.

In terms of the institutional set-up, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and other youth organisations such as the Viet Nam Youth Federation and the Viet Nam Students Association are also as key agents of mobilization activities, such as this visit to the Green One UN House today. Youth plays a critical role in developing youth law and in implementation of programs. As you, youth representatives from such diverse backgrounds have realized, opportunities for you to engage and lead are very well presented in Viet Nam. You simply need to have the access, tools and courage to take the leap.

I want to close by saying thank you: to the representatives of Central Youth Union, to my UN colleagues and most importantly, to all of you incredible young people present here today or online. Your support and commitment have played an important role in the success of our joint work.

I look forward to seeing you all in many other initiatives. Perhaps at the UN Day celebrations in October. But beyond that, I am confident that many, if not all of you will become leaders of a more vibrant, inclusive and sustainable Viet Nam.

Thank you and wish you a very good evening!