Geneva (VNA) – For thefirst time, a representative of Vietnamese youth has attended and delivereda speech at a special plenary session held by the Conference on Disarmament (CD)on the occasion of the International Youth Day (August 12).

The Vietnamese delegation to theevent, held both in person at the UN headquarters in Geneva and via videoconference, also included representatives of Vietnam’s permanent mission in Geneva.

The session on youth and disarmament,initiated by Canada – the current President of the CD, aimed to improve youth’s awareness of the importance and significance of disarmament.

It saw the presence of Izumi Nakamitsu, UN Under-Secretary General and HighRepresentative for Disarmament Affairs; Jayathma Wickramanayake, the UNSecretary-General’s Envoy on Youth; four representatives of the Youth Champions for Disarmament – Youth4DisarmamentInitiative from Canada, Uganda, Lebanon, and Vietnam; and youth representativesof the Republic of Korea, the Czech Republic, France, Japan, Belgium, andAustralia.

Via videoconference, Phung TrangLinh, a student from the Hanoi-based Foreign Trade University and one of the 10champions of the Youth4Disarmament, gave a speech on youth participationin disarmament.

She affirmed young people’s numerouscontributions to disarmament affairs, pointed out certain difficulties andchallenges to young people’s engagement in disarmament, and proposedsome solutions.

She stressed that young people aroundthe world, including in Vietnam – once a war-torn country, are well aware ofthe value of peace and wish to help protect the future.

Linh expressed her hope that the youth’s effective participation in the time ahead will help build an effectivedisarmament mechanism, thus contributing to global peace, security, andsustainable development.

The CD is the only globalmultilateral negotiation forum on disarmament with 65 member states that representalmost all regions and groups of countries in different levels of development.

Vietnam took part in CD meetings forthe first time in 1993 and became a full member in 1996.

The Youth4Disarmament is aninitiative launched by the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs in 2019 with aview to connecting the youth in different geographical regions with experts tolearn and discuss the UN’s works and current challenges to internationalsecurity. It has chosen 10 outstanding youths from 6,515 candidates, who are from the UK, Lebanon, Germany, Nigeria, Egypt, Uganda, Turkey, Canada,South Africa, and Vietnam./.