Vice Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Tran Thanh Man (Photo: VNA)

Since joining the IPU in 1979, the Vietnamese National Assembly has developed a good relationship with the IPU.

Work together for a peaceful world

Vice Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Tran Thanh Man delivered a speech at the Plenary Session of the IPU General Assembly. He said Vietnam is a peace-loving country with a tradition of tolerance, humanity, and harmony. Having experienced difficult struggles for national independence and reunification, Vietnam appreciates the value of peace, stability, and friendship and is well aware that Vietnam’s peace and development is closely associated with regional and global peace and prosperity.

Vietnam supports initiatives that contribute to global peace and stability, settle conflicts and disputes by peaceful means, not threat or use force, and abide by international law and the UN Charter.

Mr. Man proposed four priorities to the IPU: promoting the role of international law, including the UN Charter, in preventing wars; eliminating inequality in international relations; ensuring democracy, equality, and non-discrimination of gender, ethnicity, and religion in all fields; and promoting cooperation to respond to global issues such as climate change.

The Vietnamese National Assembly delegation attended the Asia-Pacific Geopolitical Group meeting, the Women Parliamentarians Forum, and plenary sessions of the General Assembly, Executive Council, Standing Committees, and Forum of Young Parliamentarians.

The Vietnamese National Assembly deputies had bilateral meetings with IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong, and parliamentary representatives from Angola, Zambia, Bahrain, South Korea, and Indonesia.

The IPU Secretary General praised the Vietnamese National Assembly for organizing events like the IPU-132 General Assembly in Hanoi in 2015. He said the IPU will support the Vietnamese National Assembly in organizing future conferences. The two sides signed a cooperation agreement on organizing the 9th Global Young Parliamentarians Conference in Hanoi in September.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee Vu Hai Ha said: “Multilateral parliamentary diplomacy contributes to effectively solving global challenges. The Vietnamese National Assembly is an active and responsible member of the international community and inter-parliamentary forums.”

Implementing national external policies

Vice Chairman Tran Thanh Man said the Vietnamese National Assembly will continue to effectively implement the Party's guideline on promoting the role of external affairs and building a global diplomacy.

“The Vietnamese National Assembly will promote relations with countries and enhance parliamentary diplomacy in conjunction with national external relations until 2030. It’s necessary to strengthen the role of the Vietnamese National Assembly at multilateral mechanisms and global organizations, and step by step build a leading role suitable to the national ability and conditions,” said Mr. Man.

Parliamentary diplomacy plays a pivotal role in connecting Party diplomacy, State diplomacy, and people-to-people diplomacy. Vietnam’s contribution to the success of the IPU and many multilateral parliamentary forums has shown its responsibility for solving global challenges.