Quang
Ninh (VNA) - Matters of regional and global
political security were discussed at the first plenary session of
the on-going 13th Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF-13) in
the northeastern
province
of
Quang Ninh
on Tuesday.
Those
matters drew the particular attention of the forum's participants
as the world and the region continue to experience complex
developments in security.
The
participants focused on the political security situation in
Asia-Pacific and the world at large, international terrorism, and
sub-regional matters, including the Korean peninsular issue, the
peace process in the
Middle East
, and the ASEAN Regional Forum
(ARF).
Addressing
the session, Vietnamese National Assembly Deputy Chairman Truong
Quang Duoc stressed: "The challenges facing our region are
becoming more complex and interrelated. More than ever, we have to
strengthen cooperation through regional and international
mechanisms in order to better cope with threats to peace and
security in the region."
"All
solutions to global issues must conform to the fundamental
principles of international law, respect the UN Charter, aim to
ensure peace and security in the region and the world and take
into account the interests and specific conditions of countries
concerned," Duoc also said.
On
Viet Nam's contributions to bilateral and multilateral activities
which aim to find proposals for addressing regional and
international matters, the Vietnamese representative went on to
say: "Viet Nam is a signatory to eight out of the twelve
international anti-terror conventions and is considering joining
the rest.
Viet Nam
has worked closely with
countries and international organisations to implement
international instruments on counter-terrorism to which
Viet Nam
is a party as well as United
Nations resolutions on this matter."
He
further said that
Viet Nam
had proposed many initiatives at
multilateral forums and served as a bridge between countries and
regions via hosting major international events with the most
recently being the fifth Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM 5).
He
pointed out that as one of the founders of the ARF,
Viet Nam
had actively participated in the
forum's activities since its inception. The country fulfilled its
role as the Chair of the Inter Session Meeting on Disaster Relief
(ISM-DR) in 1999 and 2000, the Chair of the ARF in 2000 and 2001,
and the Co-chair of the Inter Session Group on Confidence Building
Measures in 2001 and 2002.
Viet Nam
has also launched concrete
initiatives on political and security cooperation within the ARF
and ASEAN mechanisms.-Enditem
