Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam has made considerableprogress in promoting gender equality, which is shown in areas of education,employment and women’s engagement in the country’s political life, Moroccan Ambassador to Vietnam Jamale Chouaibi has said.

In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) ahead of the generalelections slated for May 23, the diplomat noted that the ratio of female deputies in the 14th National Assembly (NA) is 26.8 percent, much higher than the average in Asiancountries, at 19 percent.

Meanwhile, the ratio of women holding leadership positionsis on the rise in many sectors, reflecting the country’s achievements in enhancing gender equality.

According to the ambassador, female legislators have made great contributionsto the socio-economic development of Vietnam over the past years.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese women have also helped foster the country’seconomic development, he said, noting that Vietnam ranks second in SoutheastAsia in the ratio of women undertaking management positions in both private andState-run enterprises.
Chouaibi said that in the elections of deputies to the 15th NA and People’s Councils at all levels, the rate of female candidates is more than 45 percent, which is also a positive signal, encouraging women to contribute further to the country’s development policies.

The ambassador also lauded the efforts by Party and Stateleaders in ensuring that people from ethnic minority groups have their voices inthe top legislative body.

Vietnam has also made certain progress in building laws on the integration ofsocio-economic development programmes with the improvement of living conditionsfor resident in ethnic minority-inhabited areas, as well as in supervising theimplementation of these programmes, he added.

Commenting on Vietnam’s preparations for the elections amid the COVID-19 pandemic,Chouaibi spoke highly of the country’s effective COVID-19 prevention andcontrol measures as well as the close coordination between the government and local administrations.

According to the diplomat, the successful organising of election campaignsthrough modern means of information and communications will contribute toensuring the safe holding of the important political event.

The Moroccan ambassador stressed that Vietnam is among few countries which have successfully implemented the dual target of controlling COVID-19 and ensuringeconomic growth.

In the fight against COVID-19, Vietnam has shown itseffective response, he said, adding that efficiency of socio-economicsupport packages launched by the Government to ease people and businesses’difficulties amid the pandemic has been recognised by the internationalcommunity./.