NA Permanent Vice Chairwoman Tong Thi Phong (R) presents a gift to IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong at the meeting in Belgrade, Serbia, on October 13 (Photo: VNA) Belgrade (VNA) - NA PermanentVice Chairwoman Tong Thi Phong had separate meetings on October 13 with officialsof the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and Myanmar’s parliament on thesidelines of the 141st Assembly ofthe IPU (IPU-141) in Belgrade, Serbia.
In the meeting with Secretary General of the IPU MartinChungong, the Vietnamese legislator praised his important role andcontributions to the IPU, especially in reforming activities of the union’s Secretariatand enhancing cooperation between the IPU and the UN towards promoting the roleand voice of parliaments and parliamentarians in international issues.
She stressed that as a responsible member of IPU and withits experience, Vietnam will participate in all conferences, topics and fieldsto contribute to the success of the IPU-141 Assembly.
The participation in IPU activities is an important task inthe Vietnamese NA’s multilateral diplomacy activities to promote and protectVietnam's interests, express the country’s views on issues of the world’s commoninterests, thus contributing to improving the position of Vietnam in general and its NA in particular inthe international arena.
Through this forum, Vietnam can access experience and good practices ofparliaments around the world, Phong said, adding that Vietnam hopes to continuereceiving support of the IPU Secretary General in the process.
Vietnam is committed to implementing plans and action programmes for the sakeof sustainable development, towards improving material and spiritual life ofthe people, Phong said.
Forhis part, Chungong said he always supports Vietnam because Vietnam is one ofthe countries that always show strong responsibility and commitment to IPU’sprogrammes and action plans.
He highlighted the fruitful cooperation between IPU and the Vietnamese NA,saying that the Hanoi Declaration adopted by the IPU-132 in Hanoi in 2015 themed “Sustainable Development Goals: Turning Wordsinto Action” is one of the directions for implementing the IPU's actionplans.
The IPU will continue to support and closely coordinate with Vietnam toeffectively implement the union’s programmes and action plans in the comingtime, he affirmed.
Meeting with Than Win, Chairpersonof the International Relations Committee of the Myanmar Parliament, the Vietnamese NA vice chairwoman congratulatedMyanmar on its socio-economic achievements in recent years. She affirmed thatVietnam always supports and believes that Myanmar will successfully carry out nationalreconciliation, thus bringing prosperous development to the country.
She also underlined the development of the ties between thetwo countries’ legislative bodies in recent times, including their closecoordination at international and regional parliament forums, especially in theframework of the IPU and the ASEAN Inter Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA)
She proposed a cooperation channel between the groups of femaleparliamentarians of the two nations, and sharing of experience between the external relationscommittees of the two legislative bodies.
Phong said in 2020,Vietnam will assume the roles of a non-permanent member of the UN SecurityCouncil for the term 2020-2021, Chair of the ASEAN and Chair of the AIPA 41 for 2019-2020, and asked theGovernment and the parliament of Myanmar to support Vietnam to well fulfillthese important roles.
She asked Myanmar to support thepeaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with international law.
On this occasion, Phong conveyed Vietnamese NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan’sinvitation to the Speaker of Myanmar Parliament toattend the AIPA 41 General Assembly which will be held in Vietnam in August2020.
Inhis reply, Than Win hoped that Vietnam will continue to support Myanmar'sprocess of national reconciliation.
Regarding measures to promote cooperation between the two countries’parliaments, he promised to report to the leader of Myanmar Parliament toconsider the establishment of a cooperation channel between thegroups of female parliamentarians of the two nations and the two parliaments’ externalrelations committees./.
VNA
