Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Vương Đình Huệ on Monday had virtual talks with Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China Zhao Leji. — VNA/VNS Photo Doãn Tấn

HÀ NỘI — Chairman of National Assembly (NA) Vương Đình Huệ held virtual talks with his Chinese counterpart Zhao Leji yesterday, marking the first exchange between the two countries' highest leadership this year.

This is also the first official talks by Leji with a foreign leader since he was appointed the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China (NPC), aiming towards further deepening the traditional ties between Việt Nam and China's parties, administrations, and people.

In the talks, the Vietnamese top legislator asked China to facilitate the imports of Vietnamese agricultural products and the transport of Vietnamese goods to a third country via the Asia-Europe freight network, have good-quality and large-scale investment projects in Việt Nam that typifies China's level of development, speed up the progress of China's ODA projects in Việt Nam, and strengthen road, rail, sea and air connections to serve the exchange and travel needs of the two countries.

He also asked China to make efforts to maintain peace, stability, control and properly handle issues at sea according to the common perceptions and agreement of senior leaders, including the agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of sea-related issues; respect each other's legitimate and lawful interests.

The two countries should also seek to handle maritime disputes and disagreements via peaceful means, in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and effectively implement the Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and soon complete the building of substantive and effective Code of Conduct (COC).

The NPC leader proposed that the two sides strengthen exchanges and contacts through the Party channels, especially strategic exchanges between senior leaders to plan the direction for the two-Party and two-country relations, constantly deepen the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership through promoting the role and operational efficiency of the China - Việt Nam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation.

The Chinese leader also affirmed that China is willing to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese agricultural products to be imported into China, contributing to the development of bilateral trade.

Regarding the relationship between the two legislative bodies, NA Chair Huệ proposed to continue to well implement the cooperation agreement signed in December 2015, and he invited the Young National Assembly of the People's Republic of China to come to Việt Nam to attend the 9th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Forum of Young Parliamentarians held in Hà Nội this September.

At the talks, NA Chair Huệ also conveyed the greetings of Vietnamese General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng, President Võ Văn Thưởng and Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính to Chinese General Secretary and President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.

He congratulated China on the success of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the first sitting of the 14th-tenure "Two sessions", and also applauded Leji's election as the leader of NPC.

Leji thanked Việt Nam for inviting Chinese leader Xi Jinping and others to visit Việt Nam this year, and said he would be willing to conduct the official trip to Việt Nam at an appropriate time.

He also extended an invitation to visit China to the Vietnamese top legislator. — VNS