Da Nang (VNA) – A conference highlightingparliaments’ role in realising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) wasopened in Da Nang city on December 17 by the Vietnamese National Assembly (NA),the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Addressing the two-day event, NA ChairwomanNguyen Thi Kim Ngan stressed that the 2030 Agenda features 17 SDGs and 169targets, including those on poverty reduction, ensuring health care, educationand security, and building peaceful and inclusive societies. They show allcountries’ determination to create a better future for the people worldwide sothat they can live in a cooperative, peaceful and prosperous environment, sheadded.

The SDGs are both the targets and opportunitiesfor lawmakers to demonstrate their commitments to improving people’s lives andprotecting the planet. To achieve them, the participation of the NA,parliamentarians and members of all-level People’s Councils on whom the peopleentrust their aspirations and power is critically important, especially inperfecting legal frameworks and supervising the implementation and allocationof budget for activities to realise the SDGs, the NA leader noted.

She said for more than 15 years, since Vietnambegan to carry out the Millennium Development Goals – the foundation of theSDGs, its parliament has built and fine-tuned important legal frameworks forthe sake of sustainable development, including more than 300 laws and the 2013Constitution.

Through bilateral and multilateral diplomaticactivities, Vietnamese parliamentarians have exchanged experience in relevantfields, thus reflecting the NA’s active role in realising the SDGs.

The law-making body has also paid attention toimproving public awareness of the SDGs and turn them into national goals in thelong run, thereby mobilising resources to and people’s engagement in this work,Ngan added.

The Chairwoman said the Vietnamese NA highlyvalues the coordination between the IPU and the UNDP in developing aself-assessment toolkit for parliaments in terms of the SDGs implementation.

At the conference, IPU Secretary General MartinChungong applauded the Vietnamese NA’s efforts to achieve the SDGs. He stressedVietnam is the first Asian-Pacific nation to have held a meeting on this issue,expressing his belief that with the Vietnamese parliament’s cooperation,fruitful outcomes will be attained in the coming time.

The official also affirmed the IPU’s pledge toassist its member parliaments, including the Vietnamese NA, in fulfilling theUN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Meanwhile, UN Resident Coordinator and head ofUN representative agencies in Vietnam Kamal Malhotra highlighted the globalpriorities for sustainable development, noting that it is necessary to haveinternational collective actions with the participation of the entire governmentsand societies.

He also voiced his delight that Vietnam has madestrong commitments to translating the SDGs into action plans, highlighting thatthese activities have been warmly welcomed by the international community.

Underlining parliaments’ role in promulgatinglaws, approving budget and ensuring the fruitful implementation of the commitments,the UN official said the engagement of parliaments is a strong driving forcetowards the achievement of the SDGs by 2030.

At the conference, IPU Secretary General MartinChungong presented the Vietnamese version of the SDGs self-assessment toolkitfor parliaments to NA Chairwoman Ngan. –VNA