National Assembly Chairman Vương Đình Huệ attends the opening ceremony of the 5th World Conference of Speakers of Parliament in Austria on Tuesday. —VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The 5th World Conference of Speakers of Parliament (WCSP), which enables parliamentarians, as representatives of the people, to come together physically, is a demonstration of multilateral solidarity to work together in concerted efforts triumphing over COVID-19 for peace, economic recovery and sustainable development.

National Assembly Chairman Vương Đình Huệ made the statement in his message sent to the conference which opened in Austria on Tuesday morning (local time).

He is scheduled to deliver a speech at the first panel discussion later the same day.

“Amid the COVID-19 pandemic gloom and grave concern across the globe, we praise the great efforts and strong will of the Austrian Parliament to host our conference,” he said.

"Given new opportunities, the world today is facing a variety of major challenges, including protracted conflicts, terrorism, transnational crime, serious impacts of climate change, food security, water resources security and widespread devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, among others. No single country or power can address these matters alone. To resolve these matters, we must have multilateral cooperation and joint efforts of all nations. The people, for whom we are representing, are urging us to overcome differences and put forth faster and stronger actions," Chairman Huệ said.

"In this spirit, our parliaments need to showcase the leadership and companion roles alongside the governments. It is critical to strengthen multilateral collaboration and improve connections for increased sources, efforts, innovation and creativeness for the people and businesses to get over hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We need to protect the lives and health of the people, sustain peace, promote recovery and sustainable development. We commend the important role of the IPU in its call for parliaments around the world to enhance international cooperation and solidarity.

"As the President of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA-41) in 2020 and at the 42nd AIPA General Assembly, the National Assembly of Việt Nam has worked in unity with other AIPA Member Parliaments to support the Governments of ASEAN Member States in containing the COVID-19 pandemic with many practical measures in the interest of the people and businesses. The NA of Việt Nam has just promulgated a special Resolution enabling the Government to proactively curb COVID-19."

The NA Chairman made the following recommendations:

First, the people must be placed at the centre of all national efforts and policies. Peace and sustainable development could only be achievable when the basic conditions for the people, namely safety, happiness and well-being, are ensured.

Second, it is important to secure equitable vaccine access for all, consolidate resilience of the health system, promote cooperation in vaccine production. It is also essential to associate national digital transformation with improving digital skills for workers, facilitate production activities, circulation of goods and services, and resume cross-border travel and movement while ensuring health safety.

Third, the Charter of the United Nations, international law and effective multilateral mechanisms serve as the firm foundation to harmoniously combine multilateralism at the global level with the practice at the national and regional levels for the sake of peace and sustainable development.

Việt Nam, as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for 2020-2021, has exerted its utmost efforts to promote the cohesiveness between ASEAN and the UNSC in addressing regional issues of peace, security and development. — VNS