The 10th General Assembly of the ASEAN Law Association (ALA) opened in Hanoi on October 15, bringing together more than 300 delegates from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia,

In his opening speech, ALA President Atthaniti Disatha Amnarj highlighted the theme of the meeting “ASEAN Charter – Taking ASEAN to New Heights”, saying the enforcement of the charter has opened up a new chapter for ALA to increase cooperation and deal with new challenges in the region. He affirmed that together with ASEAN’s recent developments, ALA is ready to cooperate with the bloc to realize the charter’s aim of building ASEAN into a powerful and united community by 2015.

Established in 1997, ALA aims to promote friendly relations, close cooperation and mutual understanding among ASEAN lawyers.

In his welcoming speech, Vietnam’s State President Nguyen Minh Triet said the issues to be discussed at the general assembly are practical and important to every member country and the whole of ASEAN. He said this is the first time ALA has discussed legal matters related to the ASEAN Charter since that historic document was adopted at the 13^th ASEAN summit in November 2007. The discussions will help clarify shared values of the ASEAN community and lay a foundation for institutional and legal reform in each member country.

“The meeting is a good chance for ASEAN member countries to promote mutual understanding and shape ASEAN into a sharing and caring community which respects the importance of amity and cooperation as enshrined in the charter,” said Mr Triet.

The President noted that the Vietnamese State pays due attention to promoting democracy, enhancing social equality together with economic development, and improving people’s living standard.

He said in Vietnam, building and perfecting a law-governed socialist state of the people, by the people and for the people is a process that was written into the National Constitution. Judicial, legislative and administrative reform is all aimed at achieving a genuine socialist state governed by law.

He said in its policy, the Vietnamese state encourages legal organisations and lawyers to provide legal aid to people of all social strata, with priority given to the poor, ethnic people, those living in remote and island areas and vulnerable groups such as children, women and disabled people.

However, he acknowledged that these are only components of the larger goal of creating a law-governed socialist state in Vietnam. Together with developing a socialist-orientated market economy, Vietnamese policymakers are keen to ensure social welfare, generate jobs, reduce poverty, protect the environment, care for people’s health and prevent negative social effects, natural disasters and epidemics.

President Triet expressed his confidence that delegates will share experience and work out strategies to meet the goal of narrowing the development gap between ASEAN member countries through mutual cooperation and assistance.

VietNamNet/VOV