Lawmakers, representatives from ministries and localities, and foreign guests met at an international conference in Hanoi on August 24 to talk about the National Assembly’s role in supervising the enforcement of international pacts regarding commercial laws and human rights. Vietnam has already signed about 2,000 international pacts since 2006, bilaterally and multilaterally, and is looking to conclude negotiations on a number of free trade agreements and other treaties, deputy head of the National Assembly (NA) Committee for External Relations Ngo Duc Manh told the conference. As the highest public-elected and State authority, the NA plays a crucial role in enforcing international conventions, especially in overseeing their implementation, he stated. Dr. Franziska Brand, a scholar working for the German Parliament, said governments of Germany and almost European countries must ask permission of their legislatures for the signing of international pacts. During the enforcement phase, the pacts will be interpreted by courts and embedded into national laws, he said. Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong from the Ministry of Justice’s International Law Department said the NA’s current supervision is mostly done via mulling over reports and question-and-answer sessions, adding that the process needs close coordination among State agencies to exercise legislative, executive and judicial rights. Participants discussed extensively theoretical bases on the NA’s supervisory role in realising international conventions to which Vietnam is a member; legal framework, political approach and supervisory tools; as well as international experiences. The event was co-hosted by the NA Committee for External Relations and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation of Germany.-VNA