The Alliance ’s representative made the announcement at the meeting of the Group of Friends of UNAOC held recently on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly’s 65 th session in New York .

Speaking at the event, Ambassador Bui The Giang, Deputy Permanent Representative of Vietnam, stated that the UNAOC membership will bring Vietnam ample opportunities to learn from the cultural riches of other peoples, share with them lessons it has collected from its own process of national formation and development, and work together for harmony and cooperation which represent a key guarantee for peace, stability, and sustainable development.

“ Vietnam commits itself to promoting dialogue among cultures, religions and civilisations for peace, cooperation and development, towards this motto “Many cultures. One humanity”, the ambassador said.

UNAOC was established in 2005 under the joint initiative of the Portugal and Turkish Governments. It aims to facilitate dialogues and cooperation among cultures, civilisations, and religions against extremism and polarisation.

Also on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly’s 65 th session, Ambassador Giang attended the Ministerial Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) Meeting where he voiced Vietnam ’s support for the organisation of the ninth Mministerial ACD meeting scheduled for November 8-9 in Teheran , Iran .

“As a founding member of ACD, Vietnam has always attached high importance to this special type of cooperation,” the diplomat said.

He underscored that the practicality of ACD cooperation needs to be intensified through more concrete measures and action plans and pledged that as Chair of ASEAN in 2010, Vietnam will work harder to promote the intra-ASEAN cooperation and ACD as a whole./.