UNGA chief hails Kingdom’s peacekeeping achievements
ABDULLA Shahid, president of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), commended Cambodia for sending peacekeeping forces under the UN umbrella to a number of countries around the world on humanitarian missions and for successfully chairing ASEAN this year in a manner that has drawn compliments from many other nations.
Shahid, president of the UNGA’s 76th Session, paid an official visit to Cambodia on August 21-22.
Speaking to reporters following his meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen on August 22, Shahid said he had expressed his appreciation and commended the premier for having brought peace to Cambodia by leaving no one behind and not taking revenge, but instead urging the integration of his former opponents across the country.
According to Hun Sen’s personal assistant Eang Sophalleth, Shahid also hailed his leadership in growing the Kingdom’s economy, under which Cambodia has been able to develop rapidly and Phnom Penh has emerged as a city “much like” those in more developed countries.
“[Shahid] also appreciated [Cambodia] sending peacekeeping troops under the UN umbrella to several countries in the world to safeguard peace,” Sophalleth said.
“Cambodia used to receive assistance from UN blue helmets, but has now become a nation which sends troops to help keep the peace in other countries. This is a huge success that
indicates the positive change here,” Shahid was quoted as saying.
“[Shahid] placed a high value on our leadership and our ASEAN chairmanship, which has received praise from other countries around the world,” Sophalleth said.
He added that Shahid commended Cambodia for its progress towards developing into an upper-middle
income country by 2030 and into a high-income nation by 2050.
Following the meeting, Shahid confirmed that the discussions touched on Cambodia’s recent transformation, its initiatives as ASEAN chair, UN’s Covid-19 vaccine support and the government’s efforts in relation to human rights.
“I commended Cambodia for its
contribution to multilateralism and UN peacekeeping,” Shahid tweeted.
National Assembly (NA) president Heng Samrin said at a meeting with Shahid that the NA supported the missions and the roles of the UN, especially the role of the UN Security Council in expressing solidarity, maintaining
has decreased because of a fear of coronavirus infections. This meant the government was unlikely to meet the WHO’s suggestions.
“The majority of people are unaware of the benefits of giving blood, so the health ministry – through the NBTC – is running a series of education campaigns and blood drives. These programmes aim to promote the benefits of donating and make the public more confident in doing so,” he said.
He said regular donation is an excellent habit for people to adopt, as it brings all Cambodians together.
In addition, when civil servants donate the gift of blood, it builds the public’s trust for the men and women of the public administration, he added.
“I thank all of the civil servants and leadership who participated [at RSA] today. I hope these donations will save lives and that today’s event will encourage other ministries and institutions to launch similar campaigns.We are in danger of a critical shortage of blood supplies. Not a single patient should die because of a lack of something as simple as blood,” he said.