The APA, which is being held under the theme of “Promoting peace and sustainable development in Asia”, commenced its 9th plenary session in the morning of 29 November 2016, which was chaired by H.E. Dr. Ngoun Nhel, 2nd Vice-President of the National Assembly of Cambodia, in the attendance of the parliamentary delegations from 23 APA member countries in Asia.

Following the adoption of the agenda items and the election of vice-chairman of the plenary session, delegations from each member country was then allowed to take the floor to make their interventions. All parliamentary delegates highly evaluated the crucial duty fulfilled by Cambodian Parliament in maintaining regional and global peace though hosting the APA for 2015 and 2016 term.

The plenary session also has highly evaluated the mission fulfilled by the APA so far, and asked the Asian nations to unify for a long journey ahead in order to beef up the Asian integration and closer cooperation through using parliamentary mechanism which build on the culture of dialogue for the sake of the interests of all nations in Asia.

H.E. Chheang Vun, Chairman of the Commission on Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, Information and Media of the National Assembly and Head of the Cambodian parliamentary delegation, stressed the critical need for all nations in the world to find peace. He, however, highlighted that seeking peace is a difficult task while maintaining peace was even more difficult.

On the occasion, the Cambodian parliamentary delegation recalled the wars broken out in Cambodia for decades which had completely destroyed infrastructures and human resources. However, under the right and wise leadership of the Cambodian leader, Cambodia has been moving forward with achieving economic development and poverty reduction, and Cambodia absolutely wishes to see peace in the region. In the meantime, he said peace in Cambodia had been brought by the great efforts expended by the two prominent Cambodian top figures, namely Preah Barom Rattanak Kodh, the late king father of Cambodia, and Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo HUN SEN.

“The theme chosen for the APA of “Promoting peace and sustainable development in Asia” is very crucial and appropriate in line with the current context, which reflects our strong commitment to fostering solidarity, promoting cooperation, building the culture of peace and contributing to the regional and global development, said National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Chairman H.E. Mr. Chheang Vun.

Reunification and solidarity within nations in Asia has been addressed and asked to all Asian nations to tackle problems together. As responding to what has been addressed, Chinese delegations have firmly expressed their stances in supporting the Asian Parliamentary mechanism and also implementing the cooperation in both bilateral and multilateral framework within all Asian nations.

The Chinese delegation aired its view in the meeting that China has prepared itself to build the relations with all countries with the aim of maintaining regional and global peace, while the Pakistani parliamentary delegation also made an intervention, saying Asia makes up 60% of the world population. Each Asian country observes different cultures, such as China, India and Japan and so on, which are leaping forward with pride in the region, while at the same time, few Asian countries have been suffered from wars and harassments by other countries.

The Parliament of the Kingdom of Cambodia has been fulfilling its obligation to organize the 9th Asian Parliamentary Assembly plenary session from 27 November to 2 December 2016 under the theme of “Promoting peace and sustainable development in Asia”. The assembly will issue a Siem Reap declaration showing the outcome of this important gathering of APA member parliaments.

Article and photos by Information Department