National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue speaks. (Source: VNA)

On the afternoon of September 14, at the National Assembly House, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue received President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Duarte Pacheco, IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong, President of the IPU Young Parliamentarians Forum Dan Carden, and President of the IPU Women Parliamentarians Forum Cynthia Lopez Castro.

The National Assembly Chairman expressed his delight at welcoming IPU President Duarte Pacheco, IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong, IPU Young Parliamentarians Forum President Dan Carden, IPU Women Parliamentarians Forum President Cynthia Lopez Castro and delegates to visit Vietnam to attend the 9th Global Meeting of Young Parliamentarians in Hanoi.

The National Assembly Chairman sincerely thanked the IPU for choosing the Vietnamese National Assembly to host the 9th Global Meeting of Young Parliamentarians with the topical theme "The role of youth in promoting the implementation of sustainable development goals through digital transformation and innovation".

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and Mr. Duarte Pacheco, President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). (Source: VNA)

The National Assembly Chairman said that with the close coordination of the IPU Secretariat, the Vietnamese National Assembly had established an Organizing Committee and made early preparations for the Conference. Along with the official activities, within the framework of the Conference, many other activities were organized such as: Seminar on “Enhancing digital capacity for youth”, Exhibition on “Innovation achievements, OCOP products”.

The One Commune One Product (OCOP) program is part of the overall sustainable poverty reduction and new rural development program in Vietnam, which has been implemented since 2018 and has become a very widespread movement. Many OCOP products have been recognized with 3 stars or more, have many applications of science and technology to increase product value and have been present in domestic supermarket systems as well as exported to the world.

Within the framework of the program, the Organizing Committee will organize a tour for delegates to visit Ha Long Bay - a World Natural Heritage recognized by UNESCO, and Quang Ninh province - one of the bright spots in Vietnam's socio-economic development. The Vietnamese National Assembly always listens to the opinions of delegates to organize activities within the framework of the Conference to achieve the highest efficiency.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue emphasized that the Vietnamese National Assembly highly appreciates the role of the IPU, a very prestigious multilateral organization in the world operating with the goal of promoting peace, cooperation, development, democracy, human rights, gender equality, progress and social justice.

The IPU plays an increasingly important role in promoting inter-parliamentary cooperation mechanisms, together with the United Nations, discussing solutions to current global issues that no country can solve separately, contributing to maintaining peace, stability and sustainable development worldwide.

The IPU is a mechanism for inter-parliamentary organizations in the region to learn and share experiences, with the ultimate goal of enhancing the capacity and effectiveness of the operations of member National Assemblies/Parliaments.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and Mr. Martin Chungong, Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. (Source: VNA)

Since joining the IPU in 1979, the Vietnamese National Assembly has always made efforts to actively and responsibly participate in IPU activities. Vietnam is ready to work with the IPU and the parliaments of member countries to implement IPU resolutions and initiatives to contribute to building peace and sustainable development for the common interests of mankind.

In particular, the Vietnamese National Assembly supports the “Say yes to youth in parliament” movement launched by the IPU and hopes that there will be more and more young parliamentarians in parliaments around the world. Expressing his impression of this slogan, the National Assembly Chairman said that Vietnam is a country with a very young population. The Vietnamese National Assembly has up to 124 young parliamentarians according to IPU standards, accounting for more than 25% of the total number of National Assembly deputies.

The National Assembly Chairman added that last week, relevant agencies of Vietnam successfully organized a mock session of the “Children’s Parliament” to discuss issues related to youth and children. The National Assembly Chairman affirmed that the Vietnamese National Assembly is ready to host other important events of the IPU; send appropriate delegations to attend events organized by the IPU, nominate candidates for positions in the IPU Secretariat, the IPU, the IPU Young Parliamentarians’ Forum, the IPU Women Parliamentarians’ Forum, etc.

On this occasion, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue suggested that the IPU continue to pay attention to and promote capacity building programs for parliamentarians and support staff of parliaments in general, and the Vietnamese National Assembly in particular; and increase the sharing of operational experiences among member parliaments. The National Assembly Chairman expressed his belief that the 9th Global Meeting of Young Parliamentarians will be successful as expected.

Mr. Duarte Pacheco, President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) speaks. (Source: VNA)

IPU President Duarte Pacheco thanked National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and the Vietnamese National Assembly for their warm welcome; and expressed his joy at witnessing what the Vietnamese National Assembly had done to successfully organize the 9th Global Meeting of Young Parliamentarians.

Along with the success of the 132nd IPU Assembly (IPU-132) in Hanoi in 2015, the Vietnamese National Assembly hosting the 9th Global Young Parliamentarians' Conference shows that the Vietnamese National Assembly has a very good understanding of the IPU's operating mechanism and always has very high commitments, contributing to the overall success of the IPU agendas.

Mr. Duarte Pacheco highly appreciated and congratulated the Vietnamese National Assembly for always caring, inspiring and creating a space for young National Assembly deputies to operate; he expressed his impression with the enthusiastic and energetic participation of Vietnamese youth deputies at the Talk Show "Enhancing Digital Capacity for Youth" held at the Vietnamese National Assembly House on the afternoon of September 14.

Emphasizing that the agenda for the next 3 days at the 9th Global Meeting of Young Parliamentarians will make an important contribution to sustainable development by mobilizing the participation of young people, overcoming difficulties after the disruption caused by Covid-19 to implement the sustainable development goals by 2030.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue takes souvenir photos with delegates. (Source: VNA)

IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong said he had visited Vietnam many times during his tenure. He expressed his delight at witnessing Vietnam's development achievements and efforts towards sustainable development.

With the success of IPU-132 hosted by the Vietnamese National Assembly, with the issuance of the Hanoi Declaration to implement sustainable development goals through parliamentary initiatives, Hanoi has always been a place that leaves its mark and plays a very important role in the process of implementing sustainable development goals. The 9th Global Meeting of Young Parliamentarians is an opportunity to review and promote the implementation of sustainable development goals with the mobilization of youth participation.

Mr. Martin Chungong expressed his firm belief that, with the enthusiasm and great interest of Vietnamese youth and global delegates, the results of the Conference will be shared and used to promote the implementation of sustainable development goals, bringing real change to the world.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and Mr. Dan Carden, Chairman of the IPU Young Parliamentarians Forum, Member of the House of Representatives of the United Kingdom. (Source: VNA)

At the meeting, Chairman of the IPU Young Parliamentarians Forum Dan Carden expressed his special impression with the number of young Vietnamese National Assembly deputies; shared his views on the need to listen to the voices of young people, look at issues from the perspective of young people to solve challenges from real life...

Chairwoman of the IPU Women Parliamentarians Forum Cynthia Lopez Castro congratulated Vietnam on its important achievements in empowering women and expressed her impression that the proportion of female deputies in the Vietnamese National Assembly is about 30% and that there were also many young female deputies attending the 9th Global Meeting of Young Parliamentarians in Vietnam...