THE HAGUE - Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân said she expects that her ongoing official visit to the Netherlands will further deepen the friendship and co-operation between Việt Nam and the European country, and in particular with the Dutch parliament. 

During her talks with President of the Senate of the Netherlands Ankie Broekers-Knol in The Hague yesterday, Chairwoman Ngân expressed her hope that the visit would open up new co-operation prospects in relations between Việt Nam, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the European Union (EU), especially as Việt Nam and the Netherlands celebrate the 45th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties. 
Broekers-Knol said the top Vietnamese legislator’s visit followed the official visit to the Netherlands by Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc in July 2017.

The current visit by NA Chairwoman Ngân has created an opportunity for the two sides to share legislative experiences and promote parliamentary ties, the Senate President said. 
While discussing the outcomes of her earlier talks with Speaker of the House of Representatives Khadija Arib, Chairwoman Ngân said the two sides exchanged views on many issues and agreed to step up co-operation in specific realms. 
The chairwoman also highlighted socio-economic development achievements that Việt Nam has notched in 2017, especially since the country joined ASEAN in 1995. 
The host and guest expressed their pleasure at the growing friendship and co-operation in all spheres over the past 45 years as well as the enhanced mutual political trust between Việt Nam and the Netherlands. 
Ngân said Việt Nam set up the Việt Nam-Netherlands Co-operation and Friendship Association for the 2013-18 tenure, which has contributed to increasing people-to-people exchanges, hoping that the Netherlands will soon establish a similar association to promote mutual understanding and friendship. 
The top legislators said that economic, trade and investment relations between Việt Nam and the Netherlands had been growing fruitfully over the past few years. 
The Vietnamese Party and State embraced the strategic partnership agreement on climate change adaptation and water management signed in 2010 and the strategic partnership agreement on sustainable agriculture and food security sealed in 2014 between Việt Nam and the Netherlands, Ngân said, describing them as effective co-operation models that have contributed to sustainable development in Việt Nam. 
She recognised and spoke highly of the Netherlands’ assistance in building the Mekong Delta Plan (MDP) to cope with climate change and improve water management. 
Việt Nam was particularly interested in environmental issues and high-tech agriculture development, which are the strengths of the Netherlands, and hoped the European country would continue co-operating and sharing experience with Việt Nam in the fields, Ngân said. 
Việt Nam and the Netherlands were also expected to strengthen collaboration in such potential areas as tourism, transport, education-training and culture, Ngân said, urging the two nations to sign a bilateral tourism co-operation agreement to make a legal foundation for the establishment and implementation of specific co-operation programmes. 
The two leaders applauded cooperative ties between Vietnamese and Dutch localities, saying they helped promote mutual understanding, friendship and co-operation between the Vietnamese and Dutch people. 
Broekers-Knol said the Netherlands wanted to cooperate with Việt Nam in various fields, particularly in response to climate change and sea level rise, noting that her country created a perfect breakwater system when sea level rise left critical impacts on the Netherlands 70 years ago. 
At the talks, the two leaders expressed their interest in high-tech agriculture and discussed measures to tackle global food security. The Vietnamese top legislator briefed the host about Việt Nam’s agricultural production and exports in recent years. 
Regarding bilateral legislative relations, the leaders held that cooperative ties between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Dutch Senate had been growing well in recent years. In that spirit, Ngân suggested the two sides continue exchanging delegations to increase mutual understanding and trust, improve the efficiency of consultation mechanisms and closely cooperate at multilateral forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership (ASEP). 
The parliaments needed to supervise the implementation of co-operation agreements inked by the two governments while promoting information exchanges on parliamentary activities in each nation, Ngân said, recommending the establishment of friendship parliamentary groups. 
As maintaining peace, stability, security and freedom of aviation and navigation is to the common benefit of the international community, including the Netherlands, Ngân hoped that the country would raise its voice to support the East Sea issue, the peaceful settlement of disputes and the strict observance and enforcement of international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC). 
She took the occasion to thank the Netherlands for creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community, expecting that the Senate President would further support Vietnamese nationals so that they could make contributions to the host nation’s socio-economic development and multi-faceted co-operation between the two countries. 
NA Chairwoman Ngân invited Senate President Broekers-Knol to pay an official visit to Việt Nam at a convenient time to discuss issues of mutual concern regarding co-operative relations between the two nations and the two parliaments. The State President accepted the invitation with pleasure. — VNS