The ASEAN flag (Photo: thcasean.org)

The ceremony was attended by President of the UN General Assembly Tijjani Muhammad Bande, UN Under-Secretary-General Atul Khare, UN Assistant Secretary-General Alexander Zuev and more than 4,000 delegates from UN member states.

Bande applauded ASEAN’s key role in maintaining peace, stability and prosperity in the region and expressed his wish to further enhance close cooperation between ASEAN and the UN in various fields such as peacekeeping, counterterrorism, natural disaster mitigation, climate change, protection of labourers, gender equality and children’s rights.

He welcomed ASEAN’s efforts in promoting sustainable development and enhancing links between the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Khare also expressed his desire to step up close cooperation between ASEAN and the UN, especially in peacekeeping and building peacekeeping capacity, and thanked ASEAN member nations for sending 5,000 servicepersons, including servicewomen, to UN peacekeeping missions.

Amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, he said, ASEAN may play an important role in dealing with the current challenges.

He took this occasion to thank Vietnam for helping the UN’s COVID-19 medical evacuation force to bring UN staff infected with the coronavirus to high-quality treatment facilities as well as providing technical training for nations sending servicepersons to peacekeeping missions within the ASEAN-UN cooperation framework.

On behalf of the ASEAN member states, Head of Vietnam’s Permanent Mission to the UN Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy said ASEAN has been developing strongly since its inception 53 years ago, emerging from a war-torn region to a region of peace, stability, prosperity and dynamic development.

These achievements are attributed to the efforts of ASEAN people and the close relations with partner and friend nations around the world as well as the UN, he stressed.

The ambassador affirmed the commitment to join hands with other nations to further promote ASEAN-UN relations in the fields of politics, economy, culture and social affairs.

The same day, the Vietnamese Embassy in South Africa hoisted the ASEAN flag to mark the bloc’s 53rd founding anniversary.

Speaking at the ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to South Africa Hoang Van Loi said as ASEAN Chair 2020, Vietnam has been trying its best to leading the bloc to seize opportunities and effectively respond to challenges in the “Cohesive and Responsive” spirit.

As South Africa is planning to sign the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) this year, relations between South Africa and ASEAN in general and its member states in particular, including Vietnam, are expected to see new and strong development steps, especially in the fields of economy-trade and coordination at regional and international forums, Loi added./.VNA