The Steering and Organisation Boards of the 132nd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU–132) convened in Hanoi on February 17 under the chair of Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Tong Thi Phong to review preparations for the event to date.

Phong, deputy head of the Steering Board and head of the Organising Board, asked relevant agencies to prepare all resources, especially personnel, to meet professional and foreign language requirements.

The sub-committees should accelerate the assigned tasks to ensure preparations are in progress, she said.

The global-scale event is scheduled for March 2015.

The hosting of IPU–132 is a crucial hallmark in the Vietnamese legislature’s external affairs during its 13th tenure.

The IPU–132 Organising Board groups officials of the NA, the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations, the Ministries of Public Security, National Defence, Finance, Culture-Sports-Tourism, Information and Communications, Health, Transport, People’s Committees of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Television, Radio the Voice of Vietnam, Vietnam News Agency and the State Audit Office.

Established in 1889, the IPU now has 163 members and 10 associate members. Vietnam joined the organisation in 1979.-VNA