The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moonhas granted an interview to the Vietnam News Agency before his visit toVietnam from May 22-23, in which he talked about the aims of the visitand made recommendations for the country in its transition to thepost-2015 sustainable development goals.

The following is the full text of the interview.

Q: Vietnam is one of a few countries that you will visit for the second time. What is the purpose of the upcoming visit?

I am very pleased to visit Vietnam again. I fondly remember my lastvisit in 2010 when I had the opportunity to attend the UN-ASEAN Summitas well as meet with Government officials to thank them for Vietnam’ssupport for the “One United Nations” reform.

One ofthe main focuses of my forthcoming trip will be on environmentalsustainability and climate change. I am honoured to open the Green OneUN House - an eco-friendly building now home to the UN family working inVietnam.

I will be meeting with President TruongTan Sang, General Secretary of the Communist Party Nguyen Phu Trong,Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Deputy Prime Minister and ForeignMinister Pham Binh Minh. I plan to discuss a number of issues with them,including the post-2015 agenda as well as Vietnam’s continuedleadership on climate action on the road to Paris later this year whenthe international community is expected to adopt a legally binding anduniversal agreement on climate.

I am grateful forVietnam’s contribution to UN Peacekeeping and I will be visiting thePeacekeeping Centre in Hanoi which is helping to prepare Vietnamesetroops for deployment to peacekeeping operations around the world.

I believe that young people are not just the leaders of tomorrow butalso the leaders of today, and I am looking forward to engaging withthem at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, where I will deliver alecture on the role of the UN in development, peace and security.

Q: In the context of reduced international financial assistance,Vietnam is making efforts to achieve the green growth targets as set outin the national Green Growth strategy for 2011-2020 with the vision to2050. What would be your advices for Vietnam?

I amencouraged by Vietnam's proactive and far-sighted leadership on climateaction. It makes good business sense to invest in green growth. Lowercarbon investments made today will pay off handsomely in the yearsahead.

Reducing emissions and strengtheningresilience has multiple benefits, not just for climate but for foodsecurity, health, better air quality, job growth and many other elementsthat add up to a more prosperous and liveable future.

Q: Vietnam is one of the nations that have successfully implementedmany of the MDGs. What would be your recommendations for Vietnam in itstransition to the post-2015 sustainable development goals?

Vietnam has made remarkable progress towards achieving the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs) and has been successful in meeting many ofthem, including halving extreme poverty and hunger rates, improvingpeople’s access to water and sanitation, achieving universal primaryeducation as well as gender equality in education.

Moving forward, and beyond 2015, Vietnam must ensure that progress isshared by all groups of the population, including ethnic minoritycommunities and people living close to the poverty line. The countryneeds to make sure that people are not sent back into extreme poverty byeconomic or natural disasters.

I am very encouragedby Vietnam’s determination and achievements, especially through theestablishment of its own national development goals that has allowed itto transition from one of the world's poorest countries to amiddle-income one in recent decades. I am confident that the post-2015era will open up new opportunities for Vietnam and help it focus onovercoming the remaining challenges it faces to achieve sustainabledevelopment for all.-VNA