A Vietnamese delegation attended the first meeting of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA)’s Executive Council in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from October 1-4, which attracted nearly 200 delegates from 30 member countries. 

Chairman of the NA’s Ethnic Affairs Council Ha Ngoc Chien (Source: VNA)

The delegation was led by Ha Ngoc Chien, member of the National Assembly Standing Committee and Chairman of the NA’s Ethnic Affairs Council. 

The event was a follow-up to meetings of APA’s standing committees, during which the council considered and gave feedback on contents of draft resolutions proposed by standing committees before being submitted to APA General Assembly in November 2017 for approval. 

President of the National Assembly of Cambodia Heng Samrin said Cambodia wants to share experience and build trust to gear towards APA’s common goals for the sake of peace, stability and cooperation, on the basis of respect for principles of independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-inteference in internal affairs of other countries as set in the United Nations Charter and the 10 Bandung principles issued in 1955. 

The Vietnamese delegation presented opinions on the draft resolutions and joined discussions on various issues on the agenda of meetings of the APA’s Standing Committee on Political Affairs, the Standing Committee on Economy and Sustainable Development, the Standing Committee on Social and Cultural Affairs, the Special Committee on the APA establishment, and the Special Committee on APA financial and human resources regulations. 

The Vietnamese head delegate paid a courtesy call to Heng Samrin and met delegations from India, Turkey, Cambodia, Laos, Bhutan and the United Arab Emirates. 

On the occasion, Vietnam invited parliaments to attend the 26th annual conference of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum scheduled for January 2018 in Vietnam.

VNA