Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Tong Thi Phong (second, left) and the Vietnamese delegation at the 141st IPU Assembly. — VNA/VNS Photo Trần Hiếu

BELGRADE — Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly (NA) Tòng Thị Phóng had separate meetings with President of the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) Gabriela Cuevas Barron and Vice President of the Cuban National Assembly Ana Maria Mari Machado on Tuesday on the sidelines of the 141st IPU Assembly.
At the meeting with IPU President Barron, Phóng congratulated the IPU on the union’s 130th anniversary, which showed the strong vitality of multilateralism and the development of parliamentary diplomacy, contributing to maintaining peace, stability and promoting dialogue and co-operation for the future of humankind.
Since joining the IPU in 1979, the Vietnamese NA had actively engaged in the organisation’s activities, she said, lauding the IPU co-operation and support for the country in realising its sustainable development goals over the past two years.
Việt Nam had implemented its commitments to the IPU and the United Nations regarding ensuring sustainable development and improving people’s material and spiritual lives by issuing new legislation, including the Labour Code, the Law on Youth, the Law on the Elderly, and the Law on Alcohol and Tobacco Harm Prevention, she noted.
The Vietnamese official asked the IPU President to continue supporting Việt Nam in fulfilling its commitments. On the occasion, she invited the IPU leader to visit Việt Nam and attend an international conference on nutrition and health care with a focus on ethnic groups in 2020.
For her part, IPU President Barron spoke highly of the role Việt Nam plays as an active and responsible IPU member, especially in implementing commitments and action programmes set out by the union.
Noting that in the Asia-Pacific region, the results of implementing a number of sustainable development goals had remained modest, she suggested Việt Nam share its experience with regional countries in the field.
She also expressed her hope that with Việt Nam’s experience and performance as well as the dynamic development of the region, Asian countries and Việt Nam would succeed in completing all of their targets.
At the meeting with Vice President of the Cuban National Assembly Machado, Phóng showed her delight at the growth of the special traditional friendship between Việt Nam and Cuba, especially after the visit of Party General Secretary and President Nguyễn Phú Trọng in March 2018 and the return visit by Chairman of the Cuban State Council and the Council of Ministers Miguel Diaz-Canel in November 2018. 
Leaders of both sides have agreed to strengthen co-operation and experience sharing, which was also the orientation for collaboration between the two NAs, she said, expressing her pleasure at the progress made in the legislative bodies’ partnership, especially in sharing experience and setting up friendship parliamentarian groups.
She proposed the two sides increase delegation exchanges to share experience in legislative and supervision activities as well as the strengthening of the NA’s role in the political system, parliamentary diplomacy and co-operation at multilateral international parliamentary forums.
Phóng thanked Cuba for supporting Việt Nam to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in the 2020-21 tenure. Recognising the difficulties and challenges Cuba is currently facing, she affirmed that Việt Nam supported Cuba’s just stance of fighting for the embargo to be lifted.
For her part, Machado said Cuba hoped to learn from the Vietnamese NA’s experience in law building and supervision.
She proposed the two sides work closely to hold a conference between Vietnamese and Cuban NA leaders in 2020. She also expressed her hope that Việt Nam would continue supporting Cuba’s standpoint in removing embargoes.—VNS