Vietnam attends opening ceremony of 142nd IPU Assembly

A delegation of the National Assembly (NA) led by Standing Vice Chairman Tran Thanh Man attends the opening of the 142nd Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly via videoconference 

As part of his opening speech at the event which ran with the theme of “Overcoming the pandemic today and building a better tomorrow: the role of parliaments”, Duarte Pacheco, president of the IPU, emphasized that the 142nd IPU Assembly is a time when parliamentarians globally can come together. Participants can gather whilst sharing a common goal and committing to boosting inter-parliamentary dialogue and cooperation.

The IPU president also noted the severe challenges caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic following over three million deaths globally. This is in addition to natural disasters and economic recessions which have reversed significant progress made in human development.

As a means of coping with the negative impact of the pandemic, it remains necessary for countries to develop new breakthroughs to collaborate at this time, he stressed.

According Pacheco, it is currently hard for nations to access COVID-19 vaccines, thereby countries must unite to create an effective supply source. Due to the current conditions, all nations must join hands, connect equally, and create a solid foundation worldwide based on the digital platform in order to gradually overcome the pandemic.

Upon addressing the event, Tran Thanh Man, vice chairman of the NA, said from the outset of the pandemic, the country has taken a range of drastic, synchronous, and timely actions to enjoy the participation of the entire political system in the fight against COVID-19.

The nation has also carried out the dual goal of both effectively combating the pandemic whilst protecting the health of citizens, thereby ensuring socio-economic development and social security moving into the new normal.

The major focus the country’s battle against COVID-19 is to advise all citizens to strictly follow the Ministry of Health's 5K message of khau trang (facemask), khu khuan (disinfection), khoang cach (distance), khong tu tap (no gathering), and khai bao y te (health declaration). This is alongside using vaccines and increasing the use of information technology.

So far the nation has largely been able to contain the spread of the pandemic whilst maintaining stability and socio-economic development. These efforts have gained people's trust, support, and the appreciation of international friends, Man said.

In the struggle against the pandemic, the NA has worked with the Government on allocating the budget in a timely manner to respond to the spread of COVID-19, alongside adopting a range of measures and policies to support people and local firms. This has been done while sharing experiences in dealing with the epidemic at inter-parliamentary multilateral forums, as well as taking practical actions that show solidarity alongside parliaments based in other countries, with actions including donating masks and medical supplies.

Man also underlined the necessity of continuing to promote the partnership between the IPU and regional and international parliamentary organisations throughout the region to prevent and cope with crises or emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The IPU should therefore call on countries that have advantage in terms of vaccine production to support people in developing countries, along with those suffering from the severe consequences of COVID-19 in terms of gaining equal access to vaccines and modern medical equipment at a reasonable cost.

Furthermore, member parliaments must urgently finalise national policies to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, swiftly allocate budgets, whilst intensify government supervision and accountability when implementing schemes and crisis handling mechanisms to overcome the negative impact of the pandemic.

The Vietnamese delegation representing the NA also proposed that the World Health Organization and other countries promote partnerships and co-operation in technology transfer to boost vaccine production and training to improve the world’s COVID-19 response capacity.