Source: Nhan Dan

(VOVworld)- The 33rd General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) opened yesterday in Lombok, Indonesia. Vice National Assembly Chairwoman Tong Thi Phong is leading the Vietnamese delegation to the event. Addressing the conference, AIPA President and Speaker of Indonesia’s House of Representatives, Marzuki Alie said AIPA has contributed greatly to ASEAN’s connection, integration and development thus enhancing the bloc’s central role in the region. AIPA 33 will discuss the organization’s performance, challenges and opportunities in ensuring peace, stability, security and prosperity in the region.

Earlier, Truong Thi Mai, a member of Vietnam’s National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee and Head of the NA’s Committee for Social Affairs attended a meeting for women parliamentarians from AIPA (WAIPA).  She said Vietnam fully supports initiatives that expand the role of parliamentarians in increasing pro-women policies and gender equality in economics, healthcare and education.  Mai said cooperation within ASEAN in devising pro-women policies and gender equality can be implemented through ministerial conferences or the ASEAN Committee on the Protection and Promotion of women and children’s rights. She highlighted rural women’s active contributions and stressed the need to raise their role and capacity and remove barriers and prejudices against women. 

The meeting adopted a resolution to help ASEAN member states increase their coordination when implementing the Millennium Development Goals roadmap, narrow development gaps between ASEAN members and enhance pro-women policies in the fields of economics, health and education.