Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met female deputies to the 12 th National Assembly who were attending the last session of the 2005-2011 term NA in Hanoi on March 24.

According to the PM, the female deputies, as representatives of the people’s will and expectation, have improved their political spirit, professional skill and performed their tasks well during their tenure.

He also praised contributions the female deputies made in the country’s development, saying, “The image of the female NA deputies is also the image of the Vietnamese women and the pride of the country”.

Over many years, the Party and State have always attached importance to the role and position of women and made efforts to ensure gender equality and create conditions for women to devote themselves to the country’s development, PM Dung said.

He also said that the NA passed the Law on Gender Equality, the Political Bureau issued a resolution on women’s tasks in the process of national industrialisation and modernisation, and the government promulgated an action plan on a national strategy on gender quality between 2011-2020 period which aimed to raise the number of female deputies to NA and People’s Council to at least 30 percent in the 2011-2015 period and 35 percent in the 2016-2020 period.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese women, for their part, have tried their best to make contributions to the country’s socio-economic development, the PM added.

The female deputies affirmed their intention to continue to make further contributions to national construction and socio-economic development and act as a firm pillar in promoting gender equality and women’s advancement in Vietnam./.