Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh has affirmed Vietnam’s consistent stance on supporting all efforts towards nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

In his message sent to the United Nations General Assembly’s High-level Meeting on October 2 (New York time) to commemorate the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (September 26), Minh highlighted the target of a nuclear weapon-free world since the world witnessed the devastations caused by atomic bombs in Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

He said it is a legal and moral duty of the international community to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war and the threat to the survival of mankind, to foster friendly relations and peaceful coexistence between all states, and to save the finite resources for social and economic development.

The Deputy PM stressed the need to continue with strides made by the world over the past decades, including upholding the role of multilateral and bilateral frameworks for nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation, and arms control with the global nuclear stockpiles reducing by three quarters since the peak of the Cold War.

Minh called on the nuclear weapons states to step up in their commitment to the obligation to general disarmament under Article VI of the NPT.

Trust in the multilateral disarmament architecture must be re-established, he said, adding that regional architectures need to play a more expansive role in establishing and implementing nuclear weapon-free zones in all areas.

Vietnam, as ASEAN Chair 2020, remains committed to preserving the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone, and will continue to engage with all parties to intensify efforts to resolve outstanding issues in the implementation of the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone, he stressed.

The Deputy PM added that the rights of states to use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes must be respected./.