Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue on September 7 delivers remarks at several panel discussions on responding to the COVID-19 and climate change at the Fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament (WCSP5). (Photo: VNA) During the panel discussion on “The post-pandemicrecovery: Transforming the economy to combat climate change and promotesustainable development,” Hue said the world is facing twin challenges –containing the COVID-19 and recovering from the heavy toll it is taking, as well asdealing with adverse impacts of climate change – which necessitates countriesmaking institutional and governance reforms.
Vietnam has been prioritizing its resources and engagingall people to drastically fight the COVID-19 resurgence so as to fulfil its “twingoals” of keeping the virus at bay and reviving the economy. The country hasbeen striving to provide assistance to businesses, keep the supply chain goingand ensure social welfare, he said.
As one of the ten countries most vulnerable to climate changeand sea level rise, he continued, Vietnam has taken a comprehensiveset of measures to tackle these issues. The country is working to cutconsumption of fossil fuels and increase use of renewable energy by 25 percentby 2030. It launched a project to plant up to 1 billion additional trees nationwideby 2025 in April and is also committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG)emission by 9 percent using domestic resources or by 27 percent with internationalassistance.
Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue attends the opening ceremony of the Fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament (WCSP5) underway in Vienna, Austria. (Photo: VNA) Lawmakers should also facilitate public-privatepartnerships and encourage businesses’ innovative ideas, he noted, adding thatdeveloped countries need to play a pioneering role in fulfilling GHG emissionreduction commitments; and provide technical and financial support fordeveloping nations and help them improve technology capacity.
The Vietnamese top legislator later delivered remarks atthe Interactive General Debate’s motion on “The global response to the COVID-19pandemic challenges multilateralism’s ability to deliver for the people.” Heunderscored the role of multilateral organisations in coordinating actions toprotect people’s lives and rights and the importance of internationalpartnership via multilateral cooperation mechanism, citing the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) as an example. WHO has led multiple COVID-19 responseinitiatives, such as the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator and the globalvaccine-sharing scheme COVAX Facility.
He called on all nations to work together and contributetheir resources to revive multilateralism in order to win the battle againstthe coronavirus. He also urged enhancing the effectiveness of multilateralcooperation to soon keep the virus at bay; facilitating transfer of vaccineproduction technology and ensuring all nations have equal access to COVID-19vaccine supply; promoting collaboration in COVID-19 vaccine and medicinemanufacturing; and increasing assistance to help developing countries fully andtimely realise sustainable development goals.
At the panel discussion “Mitigating the impact of theCOVID-19 pandemic,” Hue shared experience of Vietnam in adopting a people-centredapproach to formulate COVID-19 policies. The Vietnamese NA has play a key rolein the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control andacted fast in approving and implementing measures to aid affected businessesand people, he said.
He stressed that it is crucial for parliaments to furtherimprove legal frameworks for the protection of women and children, the elderlyand people with disabilities and the response to economic uncertainty and poverty relapse caused by the pandemic.
Parliaments should also bolster information andexperience exchange and beef up cooperation in COVID-19 fight in a bid tomitigate its impacts and maintain peace, stability and economic development ineach country towards fulfilling the SGDs by 2030./.
VNA
