(VOVWORLD) - The 14th Meeting of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly’s Advisory Group (AIPA Caucus 14) concluded in Kien Giang province on Tuesday. At the two-day meeting, the delegates discussed national reports on implementation of the resolutions of the 43rd AIPA General Assembly and the reports of the AIPA Secretariat and AIPA Caucus 14, and pledged efforts to realize the resolutions.
 Vu Hai Ha, Chairman of the NA's Foreign Affairs Committee and Chairman of AIPA Caucus 14, delivers a closing remark. (photo: National Assembly web portal) |
Vice Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Tran Thanh Man said that the 14th Meeting of the AIPA Caucus took place in the context of multiple regional and global complications and changes in politics, economy, and society. The world’s economy is in crisis due to political conflicts, climate change, and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Southeast Asia, ASEAN continues to strengthen its centrality and solidarity within the bloc, fulfill the 2025 Master Plan, and prepare for the next development phase toward the formulation of the post-2025 ASEAN Community Vision.
AIPA pays special attention to technology innovation
The latest assessments show that ASEAN countries have made great progress in technology innovation, but at different levels and by different methods. The global Industrial Revolution 4.0, especially digital technology, is developing strongly, creating breakthroughs in multiple fields and many opportunities, and posing multiple challenges to every economy.
In order to achieve sustainable economic development goals, ASEAN countries need to be aware of the achievements and limitations of science and technology, acquire and apply advanced technologies widely to increase labor productivity, improve product and service quality and the economy's competitiveness, and make the digital economy and technology application the foundation of national digital transformation.
AIPA took the theme "Promoting innovation, transfer, application, and development of science and technology for sustainable growth and development" for the 14th Meeting of the AIPA Caucus.
At the second session, chaired by Nguyen Phuong Tuan, Vice Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly’s Committee for Science, Technology, and Environment, participants discussed reports of member countries on issues of shared concern, focusing on promoting innovation and science and technology transfer, application, and development to serve sustainable growth. The discussion topics demonstrated AIPA’s responsibility and activeness in confronting challenges in the new context, in alignment with global trends and conditions in each country.
 The closing session of the 14th Meeting of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly’s Advisory Group (AIPA Caucus 14) in Kien Giang province. (photo: National Assembly web portal) |
Enhancing effort to realize resolutions of AIPA 43
Throughout ASEAN’s development, AIPA parliaments have played an important role in supporting their governments to build mechanisms and policies that promote intra-regional potential for ASEAN’s stability and prosperity and raise AIPA’s status in the region.
At the 14th Meeting of the AIPA Caucus, member parliaments pledged to help their governments complete the 2025 Vision and prepare for the post-2025 Vision, with a focus on maintaining ASEAN's solidarity, unity, and centrality, and enhancing its capacity to respond to traditional and non-traditional security challenges. Efforts will be concentrated on economic cooperation toward post-pandemic recovery, strengthening regional supply chains to improve resilience, and taking advantage of new regional and global economic trends, such as the digital economy, the green economy, and the circular economy, for rapid, inclusive, and sustainable development and innovation.
Within the framework of the meeting, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization collaborated with the AIPA Secretariat to release a handbook titled “Promoting the application of the ASEAN Guidelines for Responsible Investment in Food, Agriculture and Forestry: A practical handbook for parliamentarians and parliamentary advisors".
The successful organization of the 14th Meeting of the AIPA Caucus by the National Assembly of Vietnam under the mechanism of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) was a practical activity to implement Vietnam’s external policy on promoting and leveraging multilateral diplomacy until 2030 and promoting Vietnam’s role and position in regional inter-parliamentary cooperation mechanisms.