Vietnam represents regional parliamentary seminar on SDGs realisation
VOV.VN - A delegation made up of members of the Vietnamese National Assembly (NA) led by Don Tuan Phong, vice chairman of the NA Committee for Foreign Affairs, attended the Regional Seminar for the Asia Pacific Region Parliaments on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Pakistan.
The seminar is the third of its kind and was held by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in collaboration with the NA of Pakistan, both in person and via video teleconference.
This year’s event follows the success of the first seminar launched by the IPU and the Vietnamese NA in Ho Chi Minh City back in May, 2017, as well as the second hosted by the Mongolian NA in Ulan Bator in May, 2019.
Participants shared their various experience in realising the SDGs, stressing the need to strengthen co-operation and awareness to accelerate parliamentary actions, thereby translating the SGDs into reality throughout the region.
The seminar featured four sessions, including “Envisioning inclusive development: “Socio-economic challenges in Asia-Pacific”, “Parliamentary mechanisms and practices to institutionalise the SDGs”, “Women at the centre of the development agenda”, and “Building resilience to preserve our common future”.
There were also three breakout sessions which aim to tackle inequalities, including “Ending hunger and malnutrition”, “Promoting quality education and decent work for youth”, and “Ensuring equitable access to healthcare”.
Upon addressing the event, the Vietnamese delegation expressed great sympathy for Pakistan over its recent losses in historic flooding which hit the country, going on to state their belief that they will soon overcome the aftermath of the event. They also noted that the various impacts of climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and geopolitical uncertainties will pose various challenges to achieving the SDGs.
Vietnam also shared experience and gave a number of recommendations during the course of the discussions on “Ensuring equitable access to healthcare” and “Women at the centre of the development agenda”.
The Vietnamese delegation also held meetings with Speaker of the Pakistani NA Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, president of the IPU, Mohsin Dawar, chairman of Pakistan’s NA Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Hamid Naek, chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Farooq. During these talks both sides discussed expanding relations between the two respective legislative bodies.
They agreed that there remains plenty of room for ties to grow further in the areas of politics, economics, trade, culture, and tourism.