National Assembly Chairman Vương Đình Huệ is welcomed at Rosario international airport, Santa Fe province, Argentina, on Wednesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Doãn Tấn

BUENOS AIRES – National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vương Đình Huệ and leaders of the three Argentine provinces – Santa Fe, Cordoba and Entre Rios – held a press conference following their working session in Santa Fe on Wednesday.

Addressing the event, Governor of Santa Fe Omar Ángel Perotti emphasised that the three localities in the central region of Argentina, also the South American nation’s key economic triangle, have important cooperative relationships with Việt Nam. In 2022, the provinces organised a business delegation to the Southeast Asian country to explore cooperation opportunities. Santa Fe, Cordoba and Entre Rios currently account for 60 per cent of Argentina's total exports to Việt Nam.

Huệ stated that the visit to Argentina by the Vietnamese NA’s high-ranking delegation aims not only to promote relations between the two legislative bodies but also to strengthen the comprehensive partnership between the countries, particularly in several specific sectors such as industry, agriculture and energy.

One of the focuses of this visit is to help step up bilateral economic and trade exchanges – a bright spot in the Việt Nam-Argentina relationship – toward pushing two-way import and export turnover to about US$10 billion by 2025, doubling the current level.

He noted that Việt Nam wishes to join Argentina and other countries in the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) in launching negotiations on a Việt Nam-Mercosur free trade agreement, which is expected to serve as a bridge for the relationship between Việt Nam and Mercosur member countries and strengthen ties between the bloc and Southeast Asia – a market of 650 million people and more than $3.6 trillion in GDP.

The top legislator noted the significance of the three-province development triangle in the cooperation between the nations, praised their sending of a business delegation to Việt Nam last year, and said he welcomes more similar delegations to Việt Nam and encourages Vietnamese and Argentine firms to invest in each other’s markets.

Mentioning the sides’ promotion of their people-to-people exchange and joint works in culture, sports and tourism, the NA leader said the possibility of establishing direct flights between Việt Nam and Argentina for better exchanges and tourism cooperation was also discussed.

Within the framework of his official visit to Argentina, NA Chairman Huệ on Wednesday met with Governor of Santa Fe province Omar Angel Perotti, Governor of Cordoba province Juan Schiaretti, and Governor of Entre Rios province Gustavo Bordet.

Huệ said that high-level leaders and National Assemblies of the two countries agreed on various measures to intensify cooperation and relations between the two sides, both bilaterally and multilaterally, and that Việt Nam always attaches importance to and wishes to deepen the comprehensive partnership with Argentina further.

He also stressed that the signing of the cooperation agreement between Việt Nam’s Bình Dương Province and Santa Fe holds a special significance and expressed his hope that the two sides will continue to broaden their cooperation in the fields of their strength.

Governor Perotti said besides Bình Dương, his province also hopes to have more partners in Việt Nam to utilise and bring into play the potential of each side, especially economic, trade and investment cooperation.

The governors expressed their wish to continue having chances to go to Việt Nam for economic, trade and investment promotion activities for firms to contact, establish relations and look into each other’s markets.

NA Chairman Huệ asked Santa Fe leaders to pay attention to pushing and supporting the Argentine government in its intention of broadening economic integration and cooperation, supporting the launch of negotiations on the free trade agreement between Việt Nam and Mercosur.

At the reception, Huệ witnessed the signing of the letter of intent on investment and trade cooperation by leaders of Bình Dương and Santa Fe. He also took the occasion to lay a wreath at the National Flag Memorial in Santa Fe. — VNS