At the event (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - Chairman of the National Assembly’s Committee for External Relations Nguyen Van Giau took part in a teleconference on April 21 regarding the role of parliaments in international cooperation in fighting COVID-19.

Held by the Indonesian Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation, the teleconference featured the participation of Chairman of Indonesia's House of Representatives’ Commission for Foreign Affairs Fadli Zon, Deputy Speaker of Malaysia’s House of Representatives Dato Mohamad Rashid Hasnon, head of the Republic of Korea’s National Assembly’s ad-hoc committee for responding to the coronavirus outbreak Kim Jin-pyo, the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Indonesia Navaratnasamy Paranietharan, and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific Armida Alisjahbana.

Giau highlighted the message from the President of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) 2020 Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan in her letter sent to heads of AIPA members on March 30, which called on AIPA member states to be more active in partnering with governments in their fight against COVID-19 through upholding the role of parliaments and issuing measures and policies in that regard.

He added that as AIPA Chair 2020, Vietnam welcomed the outcomes of the online ASEAN Special Summit and ASEAN 3 Special Summit on COVID-19, which were chaired by Prime Minister and Chair of ASEAN Vietnam 2020 Nguyen Xuan Phuc on April 14.

Declarations reaffirmed ASEAN member states’ determination and commitments in a “cohesive and responsive” spirit to contain the spread of the pandemic while mitigating its impacts on regional socio-economic development.

Director of the Hanoi Medical University Hospital Nguyen Lan Hieu spoke of Vietnam’s experience in COVID-19 prevention and control, which were hailed by participants. He added that Vietnam has so far recorded 268 infections, with 214 recoveries and no fatalities. No new cases have been reported for five consecutive days.

In face of profound changes caused by COVID-19, parliamentarians urged governments and parliaments in the region and the world to stay united to combat the pandemic, ensure social welfare for citizens, and offer all possible support to the vulnerable in society.

They also asked international financial organisations to offer debt payment extensions to developing countries and to continue working with the UN and the WHO to improve the capacity to cope with the pandemic on national and regional scales./.