Viet Nam officially joined AIPO at the 16 th AIPO General Assembly in Singapore in September of 1995, the same year it was admitted to the ASEAN bloc. Since its first tentative steps, Viet Nam’s National Assembly has grown in confidence and voice and has gone on to host many specialised conferences for the organisation.

In 1998, when ASEAN member countries were gulped by the continental financial crisis, the country’s NA took the helm of the embattled AIPO ship by organising and rolling out “The role of legislative bodies in the financial-economic crisis” conference.

The Vietnamese NA then hosted the first conference of the AIPO Committee on Research into Drug Addiction.

Viet Nam went on to preside over AIPO in 2001-2002 and successfully organsised the 23th AIPO General Assembly in September 2002, that proved to be a forerunner for the development of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA).

A delegation of the Vietnamese NA, headed by National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong, will attend the 28th AIPA General Assembly in Malaysia from August 18-24 at the invitation of Tan Sri Dato Seri Diraja Ramli bin Ngah Talib, AIPA President and Lower House Speaker of the Malaysian Parliament.

The 28 th AIPA General Assembly will coincide with the 40th founding anniversary of ASEAN and the 30th birthday of the AIPA.

After 30 years, the newly-named AIPA, has managed to strengthen cooperation, exchange information and experiences in legislative work, boost understanding among its members and facilitate its member governments to implement the common goals of the ASEAN bloc