An international workshop on the role of national action programmes in promoting the women, peace and security (WPS) agenda was jointly held in Hanoi on December 7 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations (UN) Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).

The workshop offered a venue for sharing lessons and experience of experts from UN Women and UN agencies, and representatives of countries that have implemented national action plans on women, peace, and security, thus providing an overview and proposing initiatives for agencies and stakeholders in Vietnam about the possibility of developing its own national action plan.

In his opening remarks, Assistant to the Foreign Minister and Director of the Department of International Organisations Do Hung Viet affirmed that Vietnam attaches special importance to ensuring gender equality and advancement of women in all social aspects, and always supports and promotes issues related women, peace and security.

Vietnamese women are participating in most areas of life, he said, noting that they have joined UN peacekeeping operations in the Central African Republic and South Sudan, he said.

During its tenure as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2008-2009, Vietnam proposed and promoted the adoption of the UNSC's Resolution 1889 on women's role in the post-conflict period.

Within ASEAN, Vietnam has actively contributed to the development of regional policy frameworks on women, peace and security, he added.

Meanwhile, Acting UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam Rana Flowers said that Vietnamese women are making more and more contributions to UN peace missions.

Vietnam has so far sent 75 representatives, including women, to participate in peacekeeping missions in many regions of the world, she added.

However, the official also mentioned challenges that need to be addressed, including finance-related issues and budget allocation for the implementation of women, peace and security agendas.

Participants focused their discussions on practices and solutions of countries to further enhance the participation of women in the WPS agenda./.

VNA/VNP