Vice Chairwoman of Vietnam’s National Assembly Tong Thi Phong attends the 4th Meeting of Speakers of Eurasian Countries’ Parliaments (MSEAP 4) in Nur Sultan, the capital city of Kazakhstan on Tuesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Duong Tri

At the 4th Meeting of Speakers of Eurasian Countries’ Parliaments (MSEAP 4) in Nur Sultan, the capital city of Kazakhstan on Tuesday, Phong stressed the meeting’s theme “Greater Eurasia: Dialogue, Trust, Partnership” while highlighting Vietnam's proactive and active international integration policy.

The Vietnamese NA Vice Chairwoman proposed to increase the building of trust, mutual understanding and respect, promote co-operation, dialogue and exchange of experience in the field of parliament.

She also proposed to promote regional, inter-regional and global multilateral co-operation in economy, trade, technology transfer and urged to pay attention to cultural exchanges in Asia and Europe, building a culture of dialogue for peace, tolerance and harmony among countries.

“Vietnam supports efforts to build the Asia-Europe parliamentary co-operation mechanism into a strong, coherent and effective forum, expand parliamentary participation of regional nations, and connect the Eurasian Parliament with other inter-parliamentary cooperation forums and organisations around the world, such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum, ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly and Asian Parliamentary Assembly,” Phong said.

Earlier in the day, Phong met with South Korean National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee Sang.

The MSEAP 4 brought together 65 parliamentary delegations from European and Asian countries and 14 international and inter-parliamentary organisations. At the MSEAP 4, parliamentarians discussed ways of ensuring safe and sustainable development of the Eurasian continent and the implementation of major economic integration projects in the 21st century.

In addition to plenary sessions, dozens of bilateral meetings were held on the sidelines of the event, enabling parliamentarians to exchange law-making experience and co-ordinate efforts and actions towards increasing the wellbeing of their peoples.

Following the opening ceremony in the morning, participants attended three plenary sessions and adopted a joint statement in the afternoon.

The statement affirms the important role of the parliaments of Asian and European countries in maintaining regional integration activities to ensure comprehensive partnerships on the basis of respect for equality and mutual benefits. The formation of constructive co-operation relationships among Asian and European countries can create a great impetus to develop common space and promote regional economic growth, it says.

The statement emphasises strengthening inter-parliamentary co-operation to deal with common challenges, including terrorism, ensure network security, combat the use of information and communication technology and new technologies in order to destabilise security, use the internet to spread terrorist and extremist ideas. It also called for dialogue to ensure the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and actively co-ordinate on the issue of disarmament.

MSEAP is a Eurasian parliamentary co-operation mechanism initiated by the Chairman of the State Duma of Russia and the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea. It was first held in Russia in 2016. The next meeting will be held in Bali, Indonesia in 2020. VNS