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Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended and delivered remarks at an open debate of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on addressing climate-related risks to international peace and security, which was held in the form of video conferencing on February 23.

Following is the full text of the Prime Minister’s remarks.

Mr. President,

I applaud the initiative of the UK Government and yourself, Mr. President, to host this important UNSC open debate on “Addressing climate-related risks to international peace and security”. I would like to thank UN Secretary General António Guterres and Chair of the UN Youth Advisory Group Nisreen Elsaim for your insightful and substantive information and recommendations.
Mr. President,

Earth – our blue planet, and our shared home – is suffering from grievous impacts of climate change. 2020 was one of the three hottest years in modern history, and was faced with the constant and severe aftermaths of floods, droughts, bushfires, rising sea level, and the unprecedented COVID-19 outbreak.

Such calamities have placed great burdens on the political and socio-economic life of many countries. They have caused unemployment and poverty, affected the livelihood of hundreds of millions of people, and risked creating instabilities or exacerbating present conflicts in many countries and regions, thus threatening international peace and security. In addition, conflicts and instabilities would further erode countries’ resilience, and rob them of valuable resources that could have been utilised to overcome the challenges of climate change.

Therefore, I propose that the UNSC, with its foremost mission being the maintenance of international peace and security, needs to galvanize collective and persevering efforts of the international community via the following measures:

First, a comprehensive and balanced approach is necessary in handling the connections between traditional and non-traditional security challenges, particularly in addressing the root causes of conflicts, such as poverty, inequality, power politics and unilateral interference and coercion. Strict adherence to the UN Charter and international law must truly become a standard of behaviour for countries in international relations.

Second, for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDG-2030), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the Paris Agreement (COP-21) to be effectively implemented, the UNSC and the international community should allocate greater resources to support developing countries, least developed countries, small island developing states, and land-locked countries that are most detrimentally affected by climate change, and are also lacking expertise and resources.

Third, I hope that the UNSC will continue to enhance its early warning capacity, and bolster its role in mediating, preventing and resolving conflicts in all regions, including through enhancing cooperation with regional organisations.

Fourth, in order to harmoniously manage the connection between climate change and security, it is necessary to continue upholding the principles of respect for the sovereignty, national ownership and principal responsibilities of states. The shared interests of communities and peoples, particularly vulnerable groups, must be placed at the heart of all national and global climate action strategies and plans.

Mr. President,

According to the World Bank, Vietnam is among the six countries most severely affected by climate change. Thus, active and effective response to climate change is both a major guideline and a strong political resolve by the Vietnamese Government. Vietnam has made great efforts to fulfil its international commitments on climate change (SDG-2030 and COP-21). In this connection, we support all endeavours to address climate-related challenges at the UNSC and other multilateral forums. I hope that the international community will provide Vietnam with further assistance and resources, so that we can better fulfil our commitments. Vietnam will work closely with other ASEAN members and support the cooperation between ASEAN and the UN.

Mr. President,

The world is burdened with the fight against COVID-19. Responding to the appeal of the UN Secretary General in “Making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century”, we should take bold actions and enhance international unity. I am confident that the “challenges” stemming from climate change can be transformed into “drivers” for change, contributing to fostering a future of peace and more sustainable development for next generations.

Thank you./.

This is the first time the Vietnamese government leader has attended and spoke at an event in the framework of the UNSC, which demonstrates Vietnam’s responsible role and contribution to the joint effort of the international community to respond to climate change, a leading global challenge at present.

In his remarks, PM Phuc underlined the grievous impacts of climate change on Earth – the shared home of human kind, which have placed great burdens on the political and socio-economic life of many countries. They have caused unemployment and poverty, affected the livelihood of hundreds of millions of people, and risked creating instabilities or exacerbating present conflicts in many countries and regions, thus threatening international peace and security.

He proposed that the UNSC, with its foremost mission being the maintenance of international peace and security, needs to galvanize collective and persevering efforts of the international community via four groups of measures to address climate-related risks.

PM Phuc said a comprehensive and balanced approach is necessary in handling the connections between traditional and non-traditional security challenges, particularly in addressing the root causes of conflicts, such as poverty, inequality, power politics and unilateral interference and coercion. “Strict adherence to the UN Charter and international law must truly become a standard of behavior for countries in international relations,” he said.

The Vietnamese government leader asked the UNSC and the international community to allocate greater resources to support developing countries, least developed countries, small island developing states, and land-locked countries that are most detrimentally affected by climate change, and are also lacking expertise and resources, in order for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDG-2030), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the Paris Agreement (COP-21) to be effectively implemented.

He hoped that the UNSC will continue to enhance its early warning capacity, and bolster its role in mediating, preventing and resolving conflicts in all regions, including through enhancing cooperation with regional organizations.

At the same time, PM Phuc stressed that in order to harmoniously manage the connection between climate change and security, it is necessary to continue upholding the principles of respect for the sovereignty, national ownership and principal responsibilities of states.

“The shared interests of communities and peoples, particularly vulnerable groups, must be placed at the heart of all national and global climate action strategies and plans,” he said.

PM Phuc took the occasion to affirm that active and effective response to climate change is both a major guideline and a strong political resolve by the Vietnamese Government. He stressed that Vietnam has made great efforts to fulfill its international commitments on climate change (SDG-2030 and COP-21).

“In this connection, we support all endeavors to address climate-related challenges at the UNSC and other multilateral forums,” the PM said, pledging that Vietnam will work closely with other ASEAN members and support the cooperation between ASEAN and the UN.

Climate change-related risks to international peace and security is an issue drawing great attention at the UNSC. Since 2007, the UNSC has organized nine debates on the issue, with a statement of the council’s President adopted in 2011 on climate change’s impact on maintenance of peace and security.

Source: VNA

The front of the chip-based ID cards (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Public Security plans to have issued chip-based ID cards to 50 million citizens by July 1 this year. eligible citizens after the national population database system and ID card production, issuance, and management system are put in place on February 25.

The back of the chip-based ID card (Photo: VNA)

Under the Law on Citizen Identification in 2014, people from 14 years of age can obtain an ID card, which is then renewed when they turn 25, 40, and 60 years of age.

BIDV MetLife representatives received an AmCham CSR Recognition Award 2020

In the social distancing period of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, BIDV MetLife received a number of claims for insurance benefits under the circumstances of limited travel and difficulties in the verification process. However, with responsibility and the spirit of always putting clients’ interest first, BIDV MetLife overcame such limitations, quickly collected documents, made claim decisions, and paid for the clients’ families as soon as the paperwork had been completed.

One particular client had an accident and died in May, leaving behind their life partner and two school-aged children. BIDV MetLife had its staff quickly verify the information.

After collating the results, the company decided to pay accidental death benefit as in the contract terms with the aim to promptly help the family stablilise after the unexpected event, and ensure future education for the children.

Another client suddenly died while travelling abroad last year. The customer’s insurance contract did not specify the beneficiary – luckily, the client purchased life insurance from BIDV MetLife. After receiving the case, BIDV MetLife’s Benefit Department helped the client’s family complete the estate division agreement so that they could take advantage of the benefits as claimed in the contract.

Over the last six years, BIDV MetLife has paid almost VND36 billion ($1.56 million) in insurance benefits. In 2020 alone, BIDV MetLife successfully resolved 5,790 cases, paying around VND25.2 billion ($1.1 million).

Since its establishment in 2014, the top priority and mission that BIDV MetLife has pursued is to strive to bring the best for customers, and ensure customer service quality in any and all circumstances.

Not only focusing on taking care of and ensuring customer benefits, since entering the Vietnamese market BIDV MetLife has utilised corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes to contribute to the community’s sustainable development and ensure social security in places where the company operates.

General director of BIDV MetLife Gaurav Sharma shared, “The employees, clients, partners, and the community are our top priorities. We pursue the goal of “always with you, building a more confident future”, and turn this goal into a foundation to build a better and more humane future. Therefore, we always do our best to ensure that customers benefit as well as aiming at sustainable social activities, contributing to creating positive change for Vietnamese people.”

BIDV MetLife has coordinated with BIDV branches in various provinces to jointly implement initiatives for the community such as awarding scholarships, gifting bicycles to underprivileged students who had made great efforts to achieve excellent academic, presenting new facilities for schools, and much more.

As a joint venture between MetLife Co., Ltd. (belonging to MetLife, the US’ leading life insurance corporation with 150 years of operation) and leading Vietnamese lender BIDV, BIDV MetLife participates in various CSR activities in the country with the budget mainly stemming from MetLife Foundation.

Since 2017, the Foundation in collaboration with partners including Trick up, Plan International, Habitat for Humanity, CEP, Room to Read, and the Special Olympics have supported $5 million through 10 initiatives and projects related to comprehensive finance.

Responsible to the utmost, BIDV MetLife has been honoured with a Corporate Excellence Award by Enterprise Asia – the leading non-governmental organisation on the continent in entrepreneurship – for pursuing the mission of providing the best service to customers, even in tough times like the current pandemic.

In addition to that, BIDV MetLife won the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam CSR Recognition Award 2020 in Hanoi last December. This was the fourth consecutive time that BIDV MetLife was bestowed the honour.