Hanoi (VNA) – Jonathan Young, Member of the New Zealand Parliament and head of the country’s delegation to APPF-26, shared hisviews on the ongoing 26th Annual Meeting of the Asia-Pacific ParliamentaryForum (APPF-26) in an inclusive interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency.

Question: This year, the APPF meeting is focusing onparliamentary partnership for peace, innovation and sustainable development. Whatdo you think about the theme?

Answer: I think it is anexcellent and very timely theme, particularly around the area of innovation becausewe are living in the era of critical changes to health, population and economy.It is very important for the parliaments around the Asia – Pacific to keep a briefof all the changes.

We’re talkingabout the fourth industrial revolution which happens so rapidly that not manygovernments can see where it is going to go but we know that it is bringinghuge enhancement into the area of healthcare, culture, transport, and digitalcommunications. As it is bringing information to all of our population, we are lookingat a far more connected world and cross-culture globe. So it is important forAPPF to have a vision, to understand and embrace the technological revolution.

The theme aroundpeace is also very important because trade does not exist without peacefulrelationships, and peace is also about stability. With the rapid changes, allwe need is a government who can work through all the changes that are cominginto our societies in an intelligent and proactive way.

Question: This is the second time Vietnam has hostedan APPF meeting. What do you think of the Vietnamese National Assembly's effortand contribution to the event and the forum at large?

Answer: I think the waythat the forum has been organised and presented is absolutely excellent andcompletely world-class. I think it has given a great platform for the exchangeof ideas and meeting of people. My congratulations to the National Assembly forhosting an excellent forum and also for the warm hospitality!

It is justwonderful to see that Vietnam is becoming a very value partner of New Zealand.We see an increasing number of visitors coming to Vietnam and I have to say,every person I have met that have come here and come back to New Zealand hasvery positive stories about experiences here.

Question: Today, the first plenary session was aboutpolitical and security matters. What does discussing these issues mean for thefuture of the Asia-Pacific?

Answer: I think it isincredibly important. When you think about the past of Asia and the conflictsit has been involved in and how that has affected population, peace andsecurity are so important for the world's wealth and wellbeing of people.

Besides, we areliving in the era now where far greater appreciations of value that peoplebring to the table. So we understand the aspiration of the Vietnameseleadership to continue to build the nation and bring people prosperity, thesame as we have in New Zealand.

Question: This year, New Zealand sent to the APPF-26a draft resolution on economic integration. How did that happen?

Answer: It is becauseeverything that we want to do in our nation socially has to have an economicbase to pay for it. And I think strong economy and strong trade can createstrong society through high level of employment, or high level of income, orgreater ability for the country to reach out and care for the vulnerable and toensure the strong education and training so people can participate in this newmodern economy with right skill sets.

When we talkabout integration, what we are seeing is as much as integration betweencountries now, alongside of the economic integration through trade agreements.We are seeing huge integration of technology and information that it is like anairy breeze around all of us all the time. People transact business via theInternet, so we have the information integration happening without us evenknowing about it.

Some of ourchallenges are around data. I got my cellphone which I bought to receiveinformation but it became so sophisticated and now extracts information fromme. How do we, as parliaments, handle that? Whose data does it belong to? How do we protectpeople and individual privacy? How to ensure that it is used for the benefit ofthe people? These are some of the issues that we face.

Thank you foryour time!-VNA