Addressing the event, National Assembly (NA) Permanent Vice ChairmanTran Thanh Man, who is also President of the Vietnam-France FriendshipParliamentarians’ Group, underlined that the Vietnamese NA has actively engagedin parliamentary diplomatic activities both bilaterally and multilaterally,including those with the parliaments of countries in the French-speakingcommunity.
He highlighted the effective operations of the APF's Vietnamese Sub-committee, adding that Vietnam will host the APF Asia-Pacific conferencefrom November 28-30 in Da Nang city.
Man affirmed that the International Organisation of LaFrancophonie (OIF) and French-speaking countries have played an important rolein Vietnam’s foreign policy.
Vietnam always supports the values and goals of theFrench-speaking community, including peace, democracy, diversity in culture andlanguage, solidarity, cooperation and development. This is also the goals thatthe State and people of Vietnam are trying to reach, he stated.
The legislator acknowledged the Vietnam FriendshipParliamentarians Organisation's contributions to the success of the country’s parliamentary diplomacyover the years.
The NA Vice Chairman lauded initiatives and efforts of the Vietnam-FranceFriendship Parliamentarians’ Group and the APF's Vietnamese Sub-committee as wellas contributions by ambassadors and heads of international organisationsthrough different activities.
He expressed his belief that the meeting withhelp promote mutual understanding and cooperation between the Vietnamese NA andpartners and open new collaboration opportunities among localities of Vietnamand countries.
Highlighting a number of activities of the APF's Vietnamese Sub-committee over the years, President of the Sub-committee Nguyen Thuy Anh expressedher hope that the ambassadors and heads of French-speaking organisations inVietnam and NA deputies will continue to work for stronger relations ofthe Vietnam-France Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group and the Vietnamese Sub-committeewith their peers in other French-speaking countries.
She stressed the need for the increase of experience sharingamong the countries in law-building and other areas of shared interest.
The APF is an inter-parliamentary organisation of the membercountries of the Francophonie, which currently consists of 90 membersub-committees. The National Assembly of Vietnam has been an observer since1974 and a full member of the APF since 1991./.