Hanoi (VNA) – As Chair of the ASEANInter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) for 2019-2020, the Vietnamese NationalAssembly (NA) hosted a virtual conference on “Parliamentary Partnership onEducational and Cultural Cooperation for Sustainable Development” (AIPA ECC) on July 30.

Initiated byhost Vietnam, this meeting aims to provide an chance for member parliaments andpartners to discuss AIPA cooperation in the fields of education and culture to realisethe UN 2020 Agenda for Sustainable Development, thereby contributing tomaintaining the cultural identity and building a prosperous ASEAN community.

In his opening remarks, NA Vice Chairman Phung Quoc Hien statedthat the world is facing many serious and urgent issues such as environmentalpollution, exhaustion of resources, ecological imbalance, ethnic conflict,consequences of development and urbanisation, and especially the current COVID-19pandemic. These hinder the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for SustainableDevelopment, which includes 17 goals to end poverty, protect the planet andensure prosperity for all.

 “As legislators, we need to take action tofulfill our responsibilities and commitment to the implementation of thesustainable development goals as stated in the Hanoi Declaration at the 132nd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU-132) with the theme "Sustainable Development Goals: Turningwords into action" in April 2015.”

“In the framework of this conference, we will focus on educational and culturalcooperation, a big issue for building the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community ”, hestressed.

According to the NA Vice Chairman, in recent years, theeducational and cultural cooperation among ASEAN countries has beenincreasingly strengthened and achieved encouraging results. However, educationin ASEAN still faces some obstacles, including the big gap among membercountries in terms of quality and management level, budget for education, lackof connection between different training systems, mutual recognition ofqualifications, and internationalisation of regional qualifications.  Besides, the preservation of cultural heritagesin the region confronts many challenges from climate change, natural disasters,pollution and consequences of excessive tourism exploitation.

Martin Chungong,IPU Secretary General, stressed that the COVID-19 pandemic has threatened andeven dimmed the results achieved by the community during the past time.Therefore, the actions of parliaments at this time play an extremely importantrole to continue promoting the goals and agendas for sustainable development inthe coming period.

Participants shared information and experience on educationaland cultural cooperation, clarifying the role of parliaments in developing acommon legal mechanism to recognise the quality of education between countriesin the region.

They also discussed cooperation mechanisms in developing distance and onlineeducation in the context of the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic; as well as thebuilding of a legal corridor to conserve and connect cultural heritages in the regionfor sustainable tourism development/.