APPF-26 a great success: APPF Representative Honourary President

Thanks to the dedicated leadership of the Vietnamese National Assembly and Government and all of the involved parties, the APPF-26 was a great success, said Takuji Yanagimoto, Head of Japanese Delegation to APPF-26 and Representative Honourary President of APPF.

The press conference after the closing of APPF 26 (Photo: NDO/Duy Linh)

He made the comment at the press conference following the closure of the 26th annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF-26) on January 20.

“This APPF meeting was very important in the sense thatthe Hanoi Declaration proposed by Vietnam was adopted. We have adopted declarations in the past, such as the Vancouver and New Tokyo Declarations. In a similar manner to those declarations, the Hanoi Declaration has clearly defined the challenges that the parliamentarians must address and very clearly shows the future actions of the APPF,” said Takuji Yanagimoto.

He also lauded the significance of the adoption of the new APPF rules that made the Meeting of Women Parliamentarians an APPF permanent event, referring to it as a historical moment for the APPF.

“I am very happy that this change of rules was adopted here in Hanoi on the 25th anniversary of the APPF, a milestone year,” he added.

Talking to reporters at the conference, Chairwoman of the Vietnam National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan highlighted three successful outcomes of the APPF-26.

She said that the meeting saw a high consensus from all of the APPF member countries and the participation of seven president-led and ten vice president-led delegations, as well as observers from Brunei, IPU and AIPA senior officials and Moroccan parliamentarians as guests.

The second success was the adoption of the Hanoi Declaration on ‘A new vision for Asia – Pacific Parliamentary Partnership’, Chairwoman Ngan stressed, noting that the document is a very significant statement, along with 14 resolutions, which were unanimously passed by all of the participating delegations.

The annual meeting also succeeded in adopting the amendment to the APPF Rules of Procedure that enables the Meeting of Women Parliamentarians to become an APPF permanent feature, the senior Vietnamese legislator added.

It was only possible because of the great efforts made byall member states, not only Vietnam, she said, adding that Vietnam has a very clear attitude with regards to gender equality and has worked to promote gender equality.

Only three meetings of women parliamentarians were held during the 25-year history of the APPF, first in Canada in 2016, the second in Fiji last year, and the third in Vietnam this year.

The APPF-26 runs between January 18 and 21, featuring four plenary sessions on the topics of politics-security, economy-trade, regional cooperation in Asia-Pacific, the future of APPF, and the meeting of women parliamentarians.

The meeting adopted the Hanoi Declaration and a Joint Communiqué at the final plenary session on January 20, along with 14 resolutions. The resolutions dealt with promoting gender equality, economic growth and free trade, and joint actions on climate change response; supporting micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in the digital age; and parliamentary diplomacy for peace, security and prosperity in the region and in the world, among other issues.

Cambodia was chosen as the host of the 27th annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF-27), which is scheduled for January 2019 in Siem Reap. The Vietnam National Assembly will hand over the APPF chair position to its Cambodian counterpart in May 2018.

(Source: NDO)