Statement

by Mr. Hoang Chi Trung, Chargé d’Affaires a. i.

of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam to the United Nations

at the Open Debate of the Security Council

on “the Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question”

New York, Wednesday, August 29^th 2007

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Mr. President,

It is a great honour and privilege for me to speak on behalf of the Vietnamese Delegation at this important meeting of the Security Council of the United Nations. I wish to thank you for the able leadership that you and your delegation have demonstrated so far on assuming the chairmanship of the Council this month.

First and foremost, the my Delegation associates itself fully with the statement delivered by the Distinguished Representative of the Republic of Cuba on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Mr. President,

It is without any doubt that the Middle East continues to be one of the flash points of great concerns to the world community in general and the United Nations Security Council in particular. We firmly believe that our meeting today will help enable the concerned parties to work much harder to bring the peace process in the region back on its tracks.

Mr. President,

My country fully shares the view that the Middle East conflict, with the question of Palestine as the core, can only be resolved through peaceful negotiations with a view to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting solution on the basis of the legitimate interests of all the partied concerned. Furthermore, in order to reach such a solution, we strongly believe that the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to establish a Palestinian State in their homeland with the boundary as existed before June 1967, must be fully respected.

In line with this consistent position, Viet Nam supports all regional and international efforts which help bring the peace process in the Middle East forward and urges the parties concerned to make further efforts to revive the peace road-map and to make greater contributions to the stability and development of the region. For her part, Viet Nam stands ready to make her utmost to contribute to the resumption of the negotiations amongst the parties involved in the Middle East peace process.

As far as the internal affairs of the Palestinians are concerned, we wish to reaffirm that Viet Nam respects the choice taken by the Palestinian people themselves and earnestly hopes that the Palestinian parties will make efforts to settle their differences through peaceful negotiations, continue to work hard with the support of the international community to bring the peace process in the Middle East further ahead.

Finally, my delegation wishes to express its serious concerns over the recent escalation of violence in the region. We urge all the concerned parties to restrain themselves and support peaceful negotiations so that the normal situation will soon return to the region. In this connection, Viet Nam warmly welcomes the recent meetings between the high-level dignitaries of Israel and Palestine. We sincerely hope that these meetings will help resume the peaceful negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians as well as the peace process in the Middle East.

I thank you, Mr. President.