Vietnam calls for enhanced substantive cooperation to ensure maritime security

Ambassador Nguyen Hoang Nguyen, Deputy Head of the Permanent Mission of Vietnam to the United Nations. (Photo: Hoai Thanh/VNA)

At the United Nations headquarters in New York (USA), a high-level Open Debate of the Security Council on the topic "Maritime Security: Prevention, Innovation and International Cooperation to Respond to Emerging Challenges" was recently held under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic of Panama - the country holding the Presidency of the Security Council in August 2025.

Attending and speaking at the discussion session were representatives of Vietnam and nearly 100 United Nations member states and relevant international agencies and organizations.

According to VNA correspondents in New York, in the leading reports, the Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Secretary General of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) emphasized that safety and security at sea are key factors for economic stability, prosperity and sustainable development globally; emphasizing that challenges to maritime security are increasingly complex, multi-dimensional and intertwined, from traditional crimes such as piracy, smuggling, human trafficking, illegal fishing, to high-tech crimes, cyber attacks on seaport systems, undersea infrastructure, along with new threats from marine environmental pollution, natural disasters and consequences of climate change.

Representatives of many countries promoted a preventive approach, called for increased information sharing and coordination in cybersecurity governance in the maritime sector, and recommended that countries strictly and fully implement international law provisions on maritime safety, security, and protection of the marine environment.

Speaking at the meeting held on August 11-12, Ambassador Nguyen Hoang Nguyen, Deputy Head of the Permanent Mission of Vietnam to the United Nations, affirmed that the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and international legal documents on maritime, environment and crime prevention at sea have created a comprehensive legal framework for ocean governance and responding to challenges to maritime security.

The Vietnamese representative highly appreciated the contributions of United Nations agencies and specialized organizations such as IMO, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)... in promoting cooperation among countries in related fields, and called for further strengthening of coordination between international and regional frameworks to optimize resources and improve the effectiveness of addressing the most urgent challenges in maritime security.

In order to ensure sustainable maritime security, Vietnam calls on countries to respect and fully implement international law, especially the United Nations Charter and UNCLOS, respect the sovereignty , sovereign rights, and jurisdiction of other countries, and avoid unilateral actions that could increase tensions.

As a coastal country with strategic and economic interests linked to peace and security in the East Sea, Vietnam affirms its consistent stance of resolving all disputes by peaceful means, in accordance with international law, including UNCLOS.

In recent times, Vietnam has actively promoted cooperation with relevant partners to ensure maritime security, especially in ASEAN-led mechanisms, through maintaining joint patrols, information sharing, law enforcement coordination, search and rescue and emergency response with countries in the region.

Vietnam pledges to continue working with ASEAN member countries and China to negotiate and build an effective, substantive and international law-compliant Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC)./.

(Vietnam News Agency/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/viet-nam-keu-goi-tang-cuong-hop-tac-thuc-chat-nham-bao-dam-an-ninh-bien-post1055663.vnp