9:17:30 AM | 9/15/2021
Attending the 42nd General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), Vietnam did not propose or sponsor any draft resolution, instead focusing on completing previous proposals and contributing ideas toward an environment of peace, security, cooperation, and sustainable stability in the region.
AIPA-42 was held online by the host country Brunei with the theme “Forging parliamentary co-operation in digital inclusion towards ASEAN Community 2025” to call on ASEAN countries to respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. It is time for ASEAN member countries to ensure an inclusive digital transformation to strengthen resilience and better prepare for present and future generations in the post-pandemic era.
Vietnam National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue affirmed that the pandemic has shown the urgency of state management, adjustment of policies and development goals, as well as digital transformation and building of the digital economy in order to promptly respond to the pandemic and maintain socio-economic development. Facing the current ups and downs, the close relationship, sharing and mutual support between member countries and the people of ASEAN have been further strengthened.
National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue called on AIPA member parliaments to remove barriers through an appropriate legal framework, improve the quality of online public services to develop e-government, create favorable conditions for people and businesses to have equal access to digital services, and promote the building of a digital economy and digital society.
In AIPA's agenda, the Political Committee focused on discussing topics of cybersecurity, promoting human security in digital transformation, strengthening parliamentary diplomacy towards building the ASEAN Community, and the situation of Myanmar.
The Economic Committee discussed two themes of ASEAN economic integration through promoting the digitalization of micro, small and medium enterprises, and tourism cooperation in ASEAN. The Social Committee focused on three themes of promoting inclusive digitalization to mitigate the effects of climate change, sustainable development goals and the role of high technology in facilitating citizen participation in voting.
The Organizational Committee discussed a number of important issues related to finance, admission of observers, the process of hosting the AIPA General Assembly, the use of the Special Fund to pay the operating costs of the new headquarters of the Secretariat, documents guiding the AIPA-ASEAN dialogue, the AIPA excellent contribution award, the process of organizing the AIPA Young Parliamentarians Conference and establishing the EP-AIPA dialogue mechanism. The Congress of Women Parliamentarians discussed women's economic empowerment, employment through digital services and financial inclusion.
This year, Vietnam did not propose or sponsor any draft resolution; however, following the meetings of the Committees, the Vietnamese delegation was deeply involved in the draft resolutions, proposing many important specific issues which were approved by the member parliaments and unanimously included in the resolutions.
Specifically, the Vietnamese delegation supported the adoption of a draft resolution on "Promoting economic empowerment for women in the future post-pandemic recovery and employment through digital and financial inclusion". In which, Vietnam proposed more important points such as: Continue to improve the legal system, national and regional policies to create a legal corridor to promote economic empowerment for women in the future to recover from the pandemic and create jobs through digital and financial inclusion; building a coordination mechanism, creating regional links to support women to get jobs and participate in the labor market through the digital environment; continue to pay attention to financial support policies so that women in general, especially poor women, who have lost their jobs affected by the COVID-19 pandemic have the opportunity to access jobs and develop their livelihoods.
The AIPA-42 General Assembly also considered and approved Vietnam's initiative in the AIPA Presidential Year 2020 on the Regulation on the operation of the AIPA Young Parliamentarians Conference, officially establishing the Young Parliamentarians Conference mechanism within the framework of the AIPA General Assembly Conference.
By Giang Tu, Vietnam Business Forum