Themed “Turning the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic into opportunities for parliaments to achieve the SDGs”, the event saw the attendance of about 130 parliamentarians from nearly 60 IPU member parliaments.
Speaking at the event, Permanent member of the Vietnamese National Assembly’s Committee for External Relations Pham Phu Binh said amid difficulties and challenges caused by COVID-19, parliaments need to ensure effective response to the pandemic at national and regional levels to speed up the implementation of the SDGs.
Over the past time, the Vietnamese legislature has adopted the IPU’s set of self-assessment tools to review the performance of the SDGs, he said.
The NA’s Committee for External relations built reports on the promotion of the SDGs by NA agencies while the NA Standing Committee reviewed the progress of carrying out the SDGs at national and local levels, he said.
Discussions at the event focused on the role of parliaments in achieving the SDGs amid the pandemic, the delivery of commitments to “leaving no one behind”, and prioritised investment in people’s health care.
Participants stressed that parliaments should effectively tap internal resources and promote cooperation with countries in implementing the SDGs.
Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives Puan Maharani urged parliaments to step up the sharing of vaccines and transfer of vaccine production technology.
The international community needs to promote policies and measures to recover the economy in the post-pandemic period, she said.
