ASEAN congresswomen have emphasised the need to give women more power in the political arena and increase the percentage of females in State agencies and businesses to enable them to maximise their role in socio-economic life.

They made the assertion while meeting in Thailand ’s tourist city of Pattaya on August 3, as part of the 30 th General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA-30).

The female law-makers affirmed the importance of the role of women in economic development and poverty reduction and asked for the adoption of policies to support and provide positive conditions for women to start their own businesses and to pave the way for them to take a leading role in small and medium-sized enterprises.

They also asked national parliaments to create a legal foundation for women, in order to ensure they may enjoy their legal right to full-participation, and also to promote those rights within society, while at the same time working to ensure gender equality and the protection of women and children from social evils as well as the difficulties and challenges stemming from the global financial crisis.

While reiterating women’s role as supporters of ASEAN’s integration roadmap, they pointed to the necessity of enhancing exchange and the sharing of information, experience, and knowledge between women in Southeast Asia .

They finalised four draft resolutions that show the determination of AIPA member parliaments to protect the rights and promote the role of women in the political, economic, cultural and social life of their countries. Those resolutions will be submitted to the AIPA-30 for approval.

On the day, the AIPA Executive Committee met and adopted the AIPA-30 agenda, as well as items to be discussed at special committee meetings, topics for dialogues with observers, and a draft resolution on Brunei Darussalam’s admission into AIPA.

At this meeting, Head of the Vietnamese delegation to the AIPA-30 Tong Thi Phong, who is Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly, informed the participants that Vietnam will host the AIPA-31 in Hanoi in mid-September 2010.

Late on the day, representatives of delegations from AIPA member countries met with ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan./.