At the beginning of his speech, the IPU Secretary General respectfully thanked the Vietnamese National Assembly and National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue for their great success in organizing the Conference.
The IPU Secretary General emphasized that the Conference takes place in the beautiful country of Vietnam, a country that has made significant and reliable progress in many areas, including sustainable development and high-tech applications. Thereby, Vietnam plays the role of a "lighthouse" in empowering young people when it comes to technology, and we will hear more about this in the coming days of the Conference.
The IPU Secretary General was pleased to see Vietnam's strong commitment to combining these two aspects of technology and youth empowerment; he believed that through such efforts, Vietnam would become one of the pioneering countries in this field.
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Secretary General Martin Chungong speaks at the Opening Session. Photo: VNA
Welcoming the 9th Global Young Parliamentarians Organizing Committee for its comprehensive approach in engaging young people and young parliamentarians in the preparation of the Conference, the IPU Secretary-General stated that the world is looking forward to the efforts of this Conference. The opening ceremony of the Conference on September 15 is also the World Democracy Day, marking the milestone of 1997 when the IPU adopted a Joint Declaration on Democracy in Cairo, Egypt. This was one of the first efforts of the international community on this issue.
The IPU Secretary General said that at this building - the National Convention Center, the IPU welcomed the start of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is a special milestone and demonstrates our common commitment to solving the world's most pressing problems. At the end of the General Assembly, the Hanoi Declaration was adopted, which has become a model for the IPU in implementing and cooperating with stakeholders in implementing the SDGs. "The IPU's responsibility is to turn words into actions; we welcome the efforts of the host country Vietnam in this work", the IPU Secretary General emphasized.
According to the IPU Secretary General, since 2015, parliaments have risen to the challenge. Many parliamentarians have been strong advocates for sustainable development in their countries, driving change and making the global goals central to policy discussions and debates. Legislative and legislative bodies have introduced laws and reforms directly linked to the SDGs, addressing issues such as poverty, gender equality, environmental protection and climate change.
At the international level, the IPU has promoted dynamic inter-parliamentary cooperation, enabling stakeholders to share best practices and build new partnerships. The IPU is improving its engagement through international parliamentary forums and understands that the implementation of the SDGs is a shared journey for all countries. The IPU has provided a platform to promote dialogue as well as resources and technical support to parliaments, for example through the SDG Self-Assessment Toolkit.
In recent years, the IPU has affirmed its belief in the power of technology to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs, especially through the adoption of the Action Strategy for the period 2022-2026. IPU members focus on factors such as: Innovation and digital transformation in their work. Resilient and innovative parliaments are one of the IPU's strategic goals.
As it embarks on a digital transformation strategy for its institutions, the IPU is driving change and wants to play a leading role in this effort. In doing so, it wants to bring as many parliaments as possible together. To this end, the IPU launched the Parliamentary Innovation Hub in 2018, which aims to bring parliaments together to promote collaboration and knowledge sharing.
The IPU is organizing forward-looking events, such as the High-level Meeting of the Committees on the Future, co-hosted by the IPU and the Uruguayan Parliament at the end of September. Through these initiatives, the IPU is consolidating good practices so that parliaments can take concrete action to make the most of the digital age.
The IPU Secretary General asked how this could be done. He said that the first step was to review parliamentary processes to increase the online participation of parliamentarians, thereby helping them to do their jobs more effectively. This is especially important for young parliamentarians, especially those who are responsible for caring for children.
The IPU Secretary General stressed the importance of building new platforms for parliamentarians and parliaments to better connect with their constituents and contribute more to the common work of parliaments. At the same time, building and improving forward-looking parliamentary bodies such as the Committee for the Future to forecast and respond to long-term trends or shocks that may occur in the future. The IPU welcomes young people to actively participate in the activities of these Committees.
The IPU calls on parliaments to establish policies and procedures to prevent and respond to bullying, cyber-intimidation and violence against parliamentarians.
These are some of the solutions that the IPU and parliaments can take advantage of to harness new technologies to help achieve the SDGs. In these processes, young parliamentarians must be at the forefront.
"We must emphasize the importance of young parliamentarians and the young generation they represent, as previous speakers have said: Young parliamentarians and the young generation in general play an extremely important role, must be more active, more proactive, and make better use of this role; at the same time, they need to be the driving force for development, bringing perspectives, energy and innovative solutions to current parliamentary processes," said IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong.
According to VNA/Tin Tuc Newspaper
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