The 26th General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organization (AIPO) kicked off in Vientiane Monday with the participation of over 300 delegates, igniting main discussions about regional political, economic and social issues.

This is the first time Laos, which became an AIPO member in September 1997, two months after its accession to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has hosted such a meeting.

The assembly, which consists of eight ASEAN members, and two others, Brunei and Myanmar, as special observers, are expected to touch upon such international and regional issues as anti-terrorism and sea piracy, the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, the ASEAN economic community roadmap, the establishment of an ASEAN development fund, legal cooperation on combating women and child trafficking, and disaster management.

The 10 countries are also scheduled to hold dialogues with parliamentarians from nine observers, namely Australia, Canada, China, the European Parliament, Japan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Russia and South Korea. The dialogues are expected to mention various matters, including international security, trade liberalization, preventive measures for natural disasters, educational cooperation, and technology transfer.

At a separate meeting of women parliamentarians of AIPO (WAIPO) held on Sunday, the delegates centered their discussions on three issues, namely the enhancement of parliamentarians' roles in poverty eradication, parliamentarians in advocacy for reproductive health and child survival, and the Beijing + 10 Platform for Action toward achieving millennium development goals such as the reduction of extreme poverty and the provision of universal primary education.

Full activities of the 26th AIPO General Assembly are to last from Sept. 18-23. The assembly will adopt a joint communique and more than 10 resolutions on Thursday.

The previous assembly took place in Cambodia in September 2004 with the presence of more than 300 delegates, including top legislators of several AIPO members. AIPO was initiated by the Indonesian House of Representatives in 1974, and officially set up three years later by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The organization embraced Vietnam in 1995, Laos in 1997 and Cambodia in 1999.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Brunei and Myanmar are accredited as AIPO special observers since they have no legislatures.

(Xinhua News Agency September 19, 2005)