Vietnamese NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan speaks at the event (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The APPF Executive Committee Meeting passed the theme, agenda,and working programme of the 26th Annual Meeting of the Asia-PacificParliamentary Forum (APPF-26) on January 18.
Chairingthe meeting, Vietnamese National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan saidthe adoption of the Hanoi Declaration would be a significant task of theAPPF-26.
TheHanoi Declaration, proposed by Vietnam and supported by participatingmembers of the committee, contains three main parts: major achievements of APPFsince 1993; APPF in a fast-changing world; and parliamentary partnership for ashared future of Asia-Pacific and APPF new development visions.
Itemphasises the role of APPF in promoting the implementation of the SustainableDevelopment Goals in line with the 2030 Development Agenda adopted by theUnited Nations in 2015 as well as supports the cooperation with APEC and otherregional, international institutions. It also inherits the principles set inother APPF Milestone Declarations, namely Vancouver, Valparaiso and New Tokyo.
Theexecutive committee agreed with the Drafting Committee’s establishment of fourworking groups on peace and security, transnational and trans-boundary crime;economy, trade and regional economic integration; regional cooperation, climatechange, food security, cultural cooperation and sustainable development; and genderequality .
Italso supported Japan’s draft resolution on amendment to the APPF Rules ofProcedure, which focuses on turning the APPF Women Parliamentarians Meeting intoan official part of APPF annual meetings. The draft will be discussed atupcoming plenary sessions.
Participatingmembers agreed with the selection of Cambodia as the host of the APPF-27, whichis slated for January 2019.
TheAPPF-26, themed “Parliamentary partnership for peace, innovation andsustainable development”, will continue on January 19 with two plenary sessionson politics-security and economics-trade matters.
TheAPPF was officially formed in Tokyo, Japan, in 1993. The forum now gathers 27members. It is a mechanism that enables parliamentarians to discuss issues ofcommon concern, and to deepen their understanding of the region and theinterests and experience of its diverse members. The forum’s proceedingsaddress political, security, economic, social and cultural issues, thusfurthering regional cooperation and building relations between and amongparliamentarians from the Asia-Pacific region.-VNA
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