Vietnam attends UN’s conference on preventing violent extremism   Ambassador Nguyen Trung Thanh leads the Vietnamese delegation to the event (Photo: VNA) Geneva - Vietnam joined nearly 150 delegations from foreign countries, international organisations and non-government organisations attending the United Nations (UN)’s Conference on Preventing Violent Extremism in Geneva, Switzerland on April 7-8.  The conference offered an opportunity for the international community to express their political stance while sharing experiences and practices in preventing the development of violent extremism. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Head of Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Didier Burkhalter co-chaired a high-ranking meeting on April 8. In his speech at the meeting, the Secretary-General introduced a Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism which puts forward a comprehensive and balanced approach for concerted action at the global, regional and national levels. Security and military responses have sometimes proven to be counter-productive and there is a need to address the drivers of violent extremism, he noted. Meanwhile, the attendants highlighted the importance of changing the approach from opposition to prevention, focusing on addressing the causes of violent extremism as well as promoting non-extremism measures along with harmonising cultures and religions in each country. Ambassador Nguyen Trung Thanh, Head of Vietnam’s Permanent Mission to the UN and foreign organisations in Geneva, who also led the Vietnamese delegation at the conference, said that the fight against violent extremism needs the international community’s efforts as well as the resolve to act at regional and national levels. Being a multi-ethnic and multi-religion country, Vietnam has implemented a consistent policy on encouraging solidarity and harmony among ethnic groups and religions, which helps ensure peace and solidarity in the country, Thanh highlighted. He added that further dialogue and discussion are needed between countries to gain common perception on the definition of violent extremism, creating a base on which to comprehensively tackle the phenomenon worldwide.-VNA