The approval was made at the first plenary session of AIPA’s 31st General Assembly which took place immediately after its opening in Hanoi on September 21.

The participants also approved the heads of AIPA member delegations as vice presidents of AIPA-31.

At the session, they heard speeches from the heads of AIPA member delegations and special observers of AIPA, who all voiced support for the close ties between AIPA and ASEAN for successfully building the ASEAN Community in 2015.

The Vice Chairperson of the Vietnam National Assembly, Tong Thi Phong, who headed the Vietnamese delegation, underscored the need to strengthen solidarity among ASEAN member countries.

Commending AIPA’s recent reforms, Mrs Phong called for more initiatives to bring the organisation closer to the people and expand its friendship and cooperation with other regional and international parliamentary organisations.

The observers spoke highly of AIPA’s active role and regarded cooperation with the organisation as an important part of their countries’ foreign policies, especially in environmental protection, sustainable development, the fight against drugs, the consolidation of legal frameworks, the creation of a mechanism for handling disputes, and preventive diplomacy.

Participants adopted the AIPA-31 General Assembly’s operations programme, its agenda, dialogue theme with observing countries and planned compositions of committees.