The Executive Committee of the 31 st ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) convened a meeting on Sept. 20 to adopt the operation programme and agenda of the 31 st AIPA General Assembly, dialogue topics with observer nations and other issues.

Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman and Chairman of AIPA-31 Nguyen Phu Trong briefed the participants about the outstanding activities of AIPA over the past year, including symposiums on women parliamentarians’ role in making laws and post-crisis and sustainable development.

Other AIPA activities are the 7 th meeting of the AIPA Fact-Finding Committee to Combat the Drug Menace, the 2 nd meeting of the AIPA advisory group and the policy consultation of G20 parliamentary speakers.

At the meeting, the delegates nominated the AIPA-31 General Assembly Vice Chairperson, approved the appointment of the AIPA Secretary General and discussed a number of other affairs.

Earlier, NA Vice Chairwoman and Head of the Vietnamese delegation Tong Thi Phong hosted a banquet in honour of delegates to the AIPA-31 General Assembly.

Phong said she believed that with the contributions of the member parliaments, Vietnam would successfully host the AIPA-31 General Assembly, helping to foster the durable development of AIPA./.