ASEAN parliamentary assembly ends, adopting resolutions

ASEAN parliamentary assembly ends, adopting resolutions

The 32nd General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA-32) concluded here on Friday with the passage of a number of resolutions to strengthen regional cooperation and to promote peace, stability, harmony, economic growth and poverty reduction in the region.

One of the adopted resolutions was the strengthening of the ASEAN political-security community through intensifying regional cooperation and integration, according to a joint communique signed by the heads of all parliaments in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Friday after the conclusion of the AIPA-32.

"The AIPA member parliaments encourage their governments to support the ASEAN in strengthening the mutually beneficial relations between the ASEAN and its dialogue partners and friends," it said.

"The AIPA also pledges to support the continuing efforts of ASEAN member states to deepen and broaden cooperation in the political and security fields, including defense, maritime security and trans-national crimes, both within the ASEAN and between ASEAN and external partners, in order to effectively cope with security issues in the region," added the joint statement.

The meeting also called on all disputes to be settled in a peaceful and amicable manner.

On the economic issues, the meeting agreed to promote economic growth and sustainable development toward narrowing development gaps in the ASEAN between the old and new member states.

It said the contribution of ASEAN-6 in providing technical assistance and capacity building measures to address the needs of the new member states: Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar will pave the way for future growth and development gap narrowing.

The statement said that climate change was posing a severe concern for economic growth, so the meeting urged ASEAN member states to ensure food security in the ASEAN region through multilateral and bilateral cooperation.

In terms of social issues, the meeting agreed to urge the ASEAN member states to strengthen law enforcement to combat human trafficking and drug menace. Also, the meeting called for law harmonization together with ASEAN mechanisms to promote the respect of the rights of migrant workers.

On the matter of women's affairs, the meeting adopted a resolution to urge member parliaments and ASEAN member states to redouble their collaborative efforts in resource mobilization and policy development to ensure that all ASEAN member states will be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goal 5 on Maternal Health by the year 2015.

In addition, the meeting passed the resolution on increasing economic opportunities for women as family income earners, especially women in the agricultural and informal sectors, in order to eradicate poverty.

The AIPA-32 was held from Sept. 18, participated in by the heads of all parliaments in the ASEAN and a number of observer countries including Australia, Canada, China, the European Parliament, Japan, South Korea, India, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Russia and the United States.

The ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Enditem

Editor: Wang Guanqun

English.news.cn   2011-09-23 16:15:19