New York, September 24, 2026 — The Europe Today: General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee and President Tô Lâm met with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres at the UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the high-level week of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly.
During the meeting, Guterres recalled his involvement as a young man in the movement opposing the war in Viet Nam and expressed his appreciation for the country’s development achievements over more than four decades of Đổi mới (Renewal).
The UN secretary-general said Viet Nam had become an important contributor to multilateralism and praised its active engagement in security, political affairs, sustainable development and the just energy transition.
Guterres expressed the hope that Viet Nam would continue to play an active role in addressing global challenges, contribute to international efforts to tackle climate change through the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), and promote emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence.
President Tô Lâm highlighted Viet Nam’s development priorities, saying sustainable development remains central to the country’s approach, with people’s quality of life, safety and happiness serving as key measures of progress.
He reaffirmed Viet Nam’s foreign policy of independence and self-reliance, as well as its commitment to multilateralisation and diversification of external relations. He said Viet Nam had evolved from an aid recipient into an active and responsible contributor to the international community and to efforts to strengthen the central role of the United Nations.
Tô Lâm also reaffirmed Viet Nam’s support for the UN80 Initiative, which seeks to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the United Nations.
As part of its continued contribution to the UN, Viet Nam will further expand its participation in UN peacekeeping operations and provide office premises free of charge to UN agencies in Hanoi for the next 10 years, with an estimated value of US$3 million. The country also plans to contribute nearly US$1.3 million to the international peacekeeping budget and remains ready to host major international conferences.
The Vietnamese leader said his country would actively contribute to UN initiatives concerning global governance of science and technology and artificial intelligence, as well as green and digital transformation.
At the same time, he called on the UN to continue supporting Viet Nam in digital transformation and capacity building, sharing international experience and connecting the country with global networks of experts, technology and finance.
He also called for stronger international cooperation in responding to climate change and promoting the green transition, particularly through mobilising resources and accelerating implementation of the JETP framework.
Looking ahead, the two sides agreed to effectively implement the Strategic Cooperation Framework for 2027–2031, together with country programme documents involving UN agencies including the UN Development Programme, UNICEF and UNFPA.
The framework is intended to support cooperation on global governance and international financial-system reform, with an emphasis on greater fairness and transparency.
The two leaders also exchanged views on international and regional issues and agreed to strengthen ASEAN-UN cooperation. They reaffirmed support for ASEAN centrality and the importance of maintaining security, safety and freedom of navigation in the region in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The meeting underscored Viet Nam’s continued engagement with the United Nations on multilateral cooperation, sustainable development, peacekeeping, climate action and emerging global challenges.
