Top legislator’s visit to lift Vietnam-Russia parliamentary ties

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan arrived in Kazan city, the Republic of Tatarstan, on December 8 afternoon. (Photo: VNA)

In an interview granted to the newspaper of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the top legislator of Vietnam said she plans to hold talks and meet with Russian leaders, focusing on the bilateral relations across fields of politics-diplomacy, economics - trade, defence - security, science - technology, education - training, and other potential cooperation areas as well.

NA Chairwoman Ngan highlighted that the comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and Russia has recorded fruitful development in all fields.

Regular mutual visits by leaders and officials at all levels have helped strongly promote the bilateral cooperation, she said, adding that the two sides have also closely coordinated and supported each other at regional and international multilateral forums.

The Vietnamese NA, the State Duma of Russia, the Federation Council of Russia and the two Governments have built legal corridors, creating favourable business environment for economic-trade-investment cooperation between the two sides, for the interests and prosperity of both nations, NA Chairwoman Ngan stressed.

She noted that the two sides’ legislatures signed an agreement on establishing the Committee for Inter-parliamentary cooperation in 2018 – the bilateral parliamentary cooperation mechanism at the highest level and the only one between the Vietnamese NA and a legislative body of a country.

Economic-trade-investment collaboration between Vietnam and Russia have seen rapid development recently, with two-way trade hitting US$4.5 billion in 2018, and US$3.4 billion in the first nine months of 2019.

The participation of both sides in the Vietnam-Eurasian Economic Union Free Trade Agreement has contributed to further strengthening their trade and investment cooperation, NA Chairwoman Ngan said.

Energy cooperation is one of the traditional and effective cooperation areas between Vietnam and Russia, she noted, adding that the two sides also actively expand cooperation in projects related to nuclear technology, urban transport, digital technology and economy, e-Government, renewable energy, agriculture, and medicine.

Regarding educational cooperation, as many as 5,000 Vietnamese students are pursuing their study in Russia. In 2018, the number of Russian tourists visiting Vietnam hit a record of over 600,000, making Russia the sixth biggest source market of Vietnam’s tourism.

Culture and tourism collaboration and people-to-people exchange between the two sides have been promoted, helping Vietnamese and Russian people enhance mutual understanding of history and culture of each country.

The legislator also mentioned the constantly growing cooperation among Vietnamese and Russian localities, affirming Vietnamese NA’s commitment to providing the greatest support for the two countries’ localities to implement specific cooperative projects.

To further strengthen the bilateral relations, NA Chairwoman Ngan said the two sides need to continue maintaining the exchange of visits at all levels, and work closely to monitor and accelerate the implementation of signed cooperation agreements and strategic projects, especially those related to defence - security, energy, technology, education - training and tourism.

They should also increase meetings and consultations, and support each other at regional and global multilateral forums, such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF), the Meeting of Speakers of Eurasian Countries’ Parliaments, the Asia-Europe Women's Forum, and others.

The annual meeting of the Committee for Inter-parliamentary cooperation between the Vietnamese NA, the State Duma of Russia should be maintained, towards promoting the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two nations in general, and the parliamentary cooperation in particular, NA Chairwoman Ngan said.

According to NA Chairwoman Ngan, she will join Chairman of the State Duma of Russia Viacheslav Volodin in attending the first meeting of the Committee for Inter-parliamentary cooperation between the two legislative bodies.

The meeting will spotlight the importance of parliamentary cooperation in expanding the Vietnam-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership, NA Chairwoman Ngan said.

Source: NDO