Hanoi (VNA) - Chairman of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee Vu Hai Ha led a delegation to attend a plenary session and the closing session of the 142nd International Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly, which were held via videoconference on May 27 evening under the chair of IPU President Duarte Pacheco.

During the plenary session, delegates continued discussing many issues related to the common theme of “Overcoming the pandemic today and building a better tomorrow: the role of parliaments”. The session also approved a resolution on parliamentary strategy to enhance peace and security against risks and conflicts posed by climate change-related disasters and their consequences, and a Resolution on integrating digitalisation and circular economy to achieve sustainable development goals, especially responsible consumption and production.

Regarding the resolution related to digitalisation and circular economy, the Vietnamese NA delegation said that education plays an important role in equipping people with knowledge about circular economy to enable them to practice the circular economy and shape responsible consumption habits from early on. At the same time, the ability to use digital tools, digital skills, and the readiness to implement digitalisation must also be considered as one of the basic contents of the educational curricula at all levels.

Vietnam shared the call in the resolution for the IPU to strengthen cooperative relationships with member parliaments which are members of other organisations, including regional parliamentary organisations, to collect evidence and information on the circular economy, the environment and digitalisation, and to develop a guiding framework for parliamentary actions.

In addition, there should be economic and financial incentives to promote more sustainable goods and services.

At the closing session, delegates emphasized the importance and urgency of vaccination against COVID-19 globally, as well as the fair and equal access to vaccines, and ensuring human rights and continuing to promote the implementation of sustainable development goals in the context of the pandemic.

IPU President Duarte Pacheco said that the 142nd IPU Assembly is the first to be conducted in the form of videoconference, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic spreading around the world and developing complicatedly. This assembly discussed many important parliamentary issues, highlighted the parliaments’ role in overcoming the pandemic and building a better tomorrow, and provided recommendations and solutions to strengthen international solidarity and cooperation in response to the pandemic and post-pandemic recovery.

Within the framework of the assembly, IPU Committees also discussed and the assembly issued resolutions on important issues in the field of security – peace, sustainable economic development, and other contents related to the United Nations, democracy and human rights, the role of young parliamentarians in post-pandemic recovery, and promoting gender equality./.