President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc meets representatives of the Vietnam Lawyers Association on Thursday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc on Thursday stressed that the Vietnam Lawyers Association (VLA) needs to play a more active role in policy and law making, scientific research in the legal sector, and the building and perfecting of a rule-of-law socialist state.

Speaking at a working session with representatives from the association, Phúc, who is also head of the Central Steering Committee for Judicial Reform, urged the VLA to improve its operational quality and work harder to popularise guidelines of the Party, as well as policies and laws of the State to raise respect for the law and its observance among the public.

The association needed to further contribute to lawyer training, step up international cooperation and take advantage of support from foreign lawyers and friends of Việt Nam, he noted.

The President commended VLA’s proposal to collect feedback from its members on a project developing a strategy for building and perfecting a rule-of-law socialist State till 2030 with orientations to 2045.

Lauding the association’s performance over the years, Phúc said it had effectively implemented people-to-people diplomacy and international cooperation, especially in safeguarding the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The association should make greater efforts to fulfil its role as an advisor of the Vietnam Fatherland Front in social criticism for legal documents, the leader added.

Established in 1955, the association now has nearly 70,000 members who are both experienced and young lawyers. — VNS