AIPA Secretary-General Nguyen Tuong Van (L) grants an interview to a Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Jakarta (Photo: VNA)Jakarta (VNA) - Leaders of ASEAN countries and the ASEANInter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) are set to convene a teleconferenceddialogue on June 26, during which they will show their commitment to furtherenhancing solidarity within the bloc and its relations with partners to copewith the challenges and build a sustainable community.
The dialogue will take place within the framework of the 36th ASEAN Summit.
Talking to the Vietnam News Agency, AIPA Secretary-General Nguyen TuongVan noted that the annual dialogue, first held in 2009, demonstrates ASEAN andAIPA leaders’ pledge to strengthen cooperation between the bloc’s executive andlegislative bodies in resolving common issues of concern in the region.
She said that, at the upcoming event, ASEAN Chair Prime Minister NguyenXuan Phuc, AIPA Chair National Assembly (NA) Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan,and leaders from other ASEAN governments and parliaments will confirm theircommitment to continuing to enhance the bloc’s solidarity and unanimity,highlight ASEAN’s centrality, and further strengthen its relations withpartners to jointly deal with COVID-19 and other increasingly fiercechallenges, including strategic competition among superpowers along withtraditional and non-traditional security issues in the region.
The AIPA Chair is expected to emphasise its readiness to stand side-by-sidewith ASEAN in building a sustainable community that is peaceful, stable, basedon law, and united, and that centres on people for common development.
During that process, AIPA and member parliaments have been contributingto the building of an “ASEAN common house”, promoting legal harmonisation, andincreasing supervision over the implementation of commitments, ASEAN Communityblueprints, and the bloc’s cooperation policies, according to Van.
She also said that Vietnam’s concurrent roles as ASEAN Chair, Chair ofthe 41st AIPA General Assembly, and non-permanent member of the UNSecurity Council confirm the country’s growing stature in the region and theworld.
Aside from the opportunities, the increasingly fierce challenges facing theASEAN Community also put great pressure on the host Vietnam, she added.
Taking COVID-19 as an example, Van noted that, as AIPA Chair, the VietnameseNA took timely and active measures to join hands with other member parliamentsto cope with its spread.
Chairwoman Ngan sent a letter to AIPA members calling for joint efforts tofight the pandemic. The NA also chaired and took part in online regionalmeetings to discuss response measures and share experience via phone talks, andprovided some AIPA members and other countries with medical supplies.
With the support of the International Conservation Caucus Foundation,the NA recently hosted an online meeting with AIPA parliamentarians to lookinto the illegal wildlife trade, its connections with COVID-19, and ways toprevent future pandemics.
Van said Vietnam’s successes in pandemic control and economic recovery inthe year it serves as Chair of both ASEAN and AIPA have been recognised by theinternational community and ASEAN countries./.
VNA
