He made the comment at the press conference after the closing of the 26th annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF-26) on January 20.
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The press conference after the closing of APPF 26 |
“This APPF meeting was very important in the sense of the Hanoi Declaration proposed by Vietnam was adopted. We had adopted declarations in the past, like Vancouver Declaration and New Tokyo Declaration. Just like those declarations, this Hanoi Declaration has clearly defined the challenges the parliamentarians must address and showed very clearly the future of actions of APPF,” said Takuji Yanagimoto.
He also lauded the significance of the adoption of the new APPF rules that made the Meeting of Women Parliamentarians an APPF permanent event, referring to it as a historical moment of the APPF.
“I am very happy that this change of rules was adopted here in Hanoi on the 25th anniversary of the APPF, a milestone year,” he added.
Talking to reporters at the conference, Chairwoman of the Vietnam National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan highlighted three successful outcomes of the APPF-26.
She said the meeting saw high consensus from all APPF member countries and the participation of seven president-led and ten vice president-led delegations, observers from Brunei, and IPU and AIPA senior officials and Moroccan parliamentarians as guests.
The second success was the adoption of the Hanoi Declaration on ‘A new vision for Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Partnership’, Ngan stressed, noting that the document is a very significant statement, along with 14 resolutions, which were unanimously passed by all participating delegations.
The annual meeting also succeeded in adopting the amendment to the APPF Rules of Procedure that enables the Meeting of Women Parliamentarians to become an APPF permanent feature, the top Vietnamese legislator said.
It could happen because of great efforts of all member states, not only Vietnam, she said, adding that Vietnam has a very clear attitude about gender equality and has worked to promote gender equality.
Only three meetings of women parliamentarians were held during the 25-year history of the APPF, first in Canada in 2016, second in Fiji last year, and third in Vietnam this year.
The APPF-26 runs between January 18 and 21, featuring four plenary sessions on the topics of politics-security, economy-trade, regional cooperation in Asia-Pacific, and the future of APPF, and the meeting of women parliamentarians.
The meeting adopted the Hanoi Declaration and a Joint Communiqué at the final plenary session on January 20, along with 14 resolutions. The resolutions dealt with promoting gender equality, economic growth and free trade, and join actions on climate change response; supporting micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in digital age; parliamentary diplomacy for peace, security and prosperity in the region and in the world, among other issues.
Cambodia was chosen as host of the 27th annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF-27), which is scheduled for January 2019 in Siem Reap. The Vietnam National Assembly will hand over the APPF chair position to its Cambodian counterpart in May 2018.
Source: VNA