NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (first, left), Chairman of the NA’s Committee for External Relations Nguyen Van Giau (second, left) and other members of the Vietnamese delegation at the plenary session of the IPU 137 in Russia (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam is seen as an active and responsible member of theInter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) with substantive contributions to the IPUAssembly, said Chairman of the National Assembly (NA)’s Committee for ExternalRelations Nguyen Van Giau.
He made the remark during an October 18interview with Vietnam News Agency following NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi KimNgan’s participation in the 137th IPU Assembly (IPU 137), themed “Promotingcultural pluralism and peace through inter-faith and inter-ethnic dialogue”, inSaint Petersburg, Russia.
He noted that on the IPU 137’s first workingday, Chairwoman Ngan delivered an important speech.
She suggested parliaments around the worldcreate a legal framework on ethnicity and religion, along with a set ofcriteria to monitor the effectiveness of the framework. She called for moreattention to communications to popularise tolerance, while calling for theenhancement of bilateral and multilateral cooperation to learn from each other insolving religious, cultural and ethnic issues. The leader also asked the IPU towork with the United Nations, other international organisations and memberparliaments on religious and cultural affairs.
At the IPU 137, the Vietnamese delegation tookpart in the activities of all IPU committees, the Forum of WomenParliamentarians and the Forum of Young Parliamentarians. It also co-hosted apanel discussion at the Committee on Sustainable Development, Finance andTrade, focusing on encouraging the private economic sector’s involvement inrealising the Sustainable Development Goals.
Giau said IPU President Saber Hossain Chowdhurydescribed Vietnam as an active and responsible IPU member with substantivecontributions to the IPU Assembly. He also lauded Vietnam’s contributions inrecent years, including holding the IPU 132 in Hanoi in 2015.
[Photos: NA Chairwoman's activities in Saint Petersburg]
On the sidelines of the IPU 137, Chairwoman Nganmet with Chairwoman of the Federation Council of Russia ValentinaIvanovna Matviyenko, Speaker of the Republic of Korea’s National AssemblyChung Sye-kyun, Speaker of the Parliament of Iran Ali ArdeshirLarijani, and Vice Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the NationalPeople’s Congress of China Zhang Ping.
Following her attendance at the IPU 137, the toplegislator of Vietnam visited Kazakhstan, the first ever official trip to thiscountry by a Vietnamese NA leader, Giau noted.
The Kazakh side applauded bilateral relations inpolitics, economy, culture, education and other spheres. They recognised theprogress in economic links, especially Vietnam’s free trade agreement with theEurasian Economic Union, to which Kazakhstan is a member, was signed in 2015.Bilateral trade rose from less than 100 million USD before the signing to 370million USD in 2016, and is expected to reach 450 million USD this year.
Both sides expressed their wish to fostercooperation, including in agriculture, transport, industry, tourism and culture.
The NA leader’s visit to Kazakhstan opened upnew cooperation opportunities for the two countries, including theirparliaments, Giau added.-VNA
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