Vietnam brings ASEAN closer

National Assembly chairman Nguyen Phu Trong told last week’s 31st General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliament Assembly (AIPA) in Hanoi, entitled “Solidarity for sustainable development of the ASEAN community”, that ASEAN and AIPA leaders needed to further cement their common regional and international issue desires  and enhanced collaboration.

“This is a necessary step in establishing the coordinating mechanism between the legislative and executive bodies in realising the ASEAN community by 2015,” said Trong, who chaired the event.

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung underscored that the joint efforts and close coordination between the two channels, namely the government and the parliament, played a significant role in promoting the realisation of the ASEAN community.

ASEAN’s achievements in cooperation and regional integration had been marked by the constructive and substantial contributions from the legislative bodies of the ASEAN member countries, he said.

At present, the ASEAN has moved to a new phase of development towards establishing the ASEAN community and has been operating under the legal basis laid down by the ASEAN charter. 

But Trong pointed out that while enjoying fundamental advantages, the process of community-building faced considerable difficulties stemming from internal weaknesses and external negative impacts. Besides, there are global challenges, such as the financial crisis, economic declines, climate change and environment pollution.

“This requires us to take stronger collective actions to effectively deal with the common challenges at national, regional and global levels,” he said.

According to Vietnam’s National Assembly, to meet the new requirements, AIPA needs to continue reforming its operational mechanisms to be more productive, make substantive contributions to the process of regional integration and actively participate in inter-parliamentary diplomacy, expanding relations with the partners and enhancing the standing of AIPA and ASEAN.

“It is an honour for Vietnam to assume two important mandates in 2010, which are the ASEAN chair and AIPA presidency. We, in these capacities, will build on this existing momentum to further promote exchanges and close collaboration between the legislative and executive bodies of ASEAN.

“Time is pressing on for the goal of ASEAN community. Therefore, we need to join hands and make greater efforts in implementing effectively cooperation programmes and plans to achieve this goal, as well as continuing to complete the legal framework for future regional integration,” Dung said.