ASEAN legislature, gov't leaders meet in Thailand

Hanoi (VNA) - Legislature leaders from the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) member countries convened a meeting and attended an informal meeting with ASEAN government leaders in Hua Hin , Thailand , on Feb. 27-28.

The meetings were organised within the framework of the 14th summit of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, known as ASEAN, which includes Brunei ,
Cambodia , Indonesia , Laos , Malaysia , Myanmar , the Philippines , Singapore
, Thailand and Vietnam .

The Vietnamese delegation was headed by Nguyen Van Son, member of the National
Assembly's (NA) Standing Committee and chairman of the NA Committee for External
Relations.

The Vietnamese lawmakers put forth a number of proposals to further boost
coordination among AIPA countries and between AIPA and ASEAN for peace, stability,
cooperation and development in the region.

This year marks the first time that AIPA leaders held a meeting in parallel with an
ASEAN summit to discuss ways to beef up cooperative ties within AIPA and strengthen
links between AIPA and ASEAN leaders.

Also for the first time, AIPA and ASEAN leaders held a direct dialogue to intensify
coordination between the two organisations in dealing with the region's common
issues.

The event was considered an important move when the bloc has recently adopted the
ASEAN Charter and spared no effort to accelerate the building of an ASEAN Community.

AIPA and ASEAN leaders emphasised the need to increase their dialogues and
consultations, and agreed upon measures to successfully build the ASEAN Community
and achieve the goals set in the ASEAN Charter.-Enditem