The General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA-31) approved the appointment of Antonio Cuenco, former Chairman of External Relations Committee of the Philippine House of Representatives, as its full-time General Secretary for the 2010-2013 period.
The approval was made at the first plenary session of AIPA’s 31st General Assembly which took place immediately after its opening in Hanoi on Sept. 21.
The participants also approved the heads of AIPA member delegations as vice presidents of AIPA-31.
At the session, they heard speeches from the heads of AIPA member delegations and special observers of AIPA, who all voiced support for the close ties between AIPA and ASEAN for successfully building the ASEAN Committee in 2015.
Vice Chairperson of the Vietnamese National Assembly Tong Thi Phong, who headed the Vietnamese delegation, underscored the need to strengthen solidarity among the nations of ASEAN.
Commending AIPA’s recent reforms, Phong called for more initiatives to bring the organisation closer to the people and expand its friendship and cooperation with other regional and international parliamentary organisations.
The observers spoke highly of AIPA’s active role and regarded cooperation with the organisation as an important part of their countries’ foreign policies, especially in environmental protection, sustainable development, the fight against drugs, the consolidation of legal frameworks, the creation of a mechanism to handle disputes, and preventive diplomacy.
Participants adopted the AIPA-31 General Assembly’s operations programme, its agenda, dialogue theme with observing countries and planned compositions of committees./.
The approval was made at the first plenary session of AIPA’s 31st General Assembly which took place immediately after its opening in Hanoi on Sept. 21.
The participants also approved the heads of AIPA member delegations as vice presidents of AIPA-31.
At the session, they heard speeches from the heads of AIPA member delegations and special observers of AIPA, who all voiced support for the close ties between AIPA and ASEAN for successfully building the ASEAN Committee in 2015.
Vice Chairperson of the Vietnamese National Assembly Tong Thi Phong, who headed the Vietnamese delegation, underscored the need to strengthen solidarity among the nations of ASEAN.
Commending AIPA’s recent reforms, Phong called for more initiatives to bring the organisation closer to the people and expand its friendship and cooperation with other regional and international parliamentary organisations.
The observers spoke highly of AIPA’s active role and regarded cooperation with the organisation as an important part of their countries’ foreign policies, especially in environmental protection, sustainable development, the fight against drugs, the consolidation of legal frameworks, the creation of a mechanism to handle disputes, and preventive diplomacy.
Participants adopted the AIPA-31 General Assembly’s operations programme, its agenda, dialogue theme with observing countries and planned compositions of committees./.
