National Assembly Vice Chairman Nguyễn Khắc Định and Speaker of the lower house of Kazakhstan’s parliament (Mäjilis) Erlan Zhakanovich Koshanov at their talks in Astana, Kazakhstan. — VNA/VNS Photo

ASTANA — National Assembly (NA) Vice Chairman Nguyễn Khắc Định is paying a visit to Kazakhstan from September 24-28.

During his stay, the official held talks with Speaker of the lower house of Kazakhstan’s parliament (Mäjilis) Erlan Zhakanovich Koshanov and Speaker of the Senate Ashimbayev Maulen Sagathanuly.

He also had meetings with Deputy Speaker of the Mäjilis Albert Rau and Deputy Speaker of the Senate of Kazakhstan Zhakip Asanov, as well as Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin, and Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Agency of Kazakhstan Askhat Zhumagali. The official also met officials at the Vietnamese Embassy in Kazakhstan and representatives from the Vietnamese community in the country, and visited Almaty city.

At the talks and meetings, NA Vice Chairman Định affirmed that Việt Nam always attaches great importance to relations with traditional friends, including Kazakhstan, and thanked Kazakhstan for supporting the State and people of Việt Nam during the past struggle for independence and present national construction and defence. He affirmed that Vietnam is keen on further boosting relations with Kazakhstan in all fields for the benefits of both peoples.

He highlighted progress in bilateral ties, especially after the Việt Nam visit by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev last August and highly valued the mutual support and coordination that the two sides have shown at international organisations and multilateral forums, especially the UN.

The Kazakh officials hailed the Vietnamese NA Vice Chairman’s visit, which they believed will help promote the friendship and all-round cooperation between the two countries in general and the two legislatures in particular.

They affirmed that Kazakhstan considers Việt Nam as a leading important partner in Southeast Asia and hopes to strengthen partnership with Việt Nam through all channels and in all fields, especially economy, trade and investment.

The two sides agreed that there is plenty of room for the two countries to bolster their economic, trade and investment cooperation and optimise the free trade agreement between Việt Nam and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) towards the goal of US$1 billion in two-way trade. The two countries boast high potential of collaboration in other fields such as logistics, transportation, finance, digital transformation, agriculture and mining, they said, pledging to provide favourable conditions for businesses to seek investment opportunities in each other’s market and form joint ventures in the fields of garment and textile and processing.

Kazakh leaders underlined that with its location in the centre of the Eurasian region, Kazakhstan wishes to strengthen cooperation with Vietnam in the field of transport and railways, exploiting transnational railway routes and direct flights between the two countries to increase goods exchange between Việt Nam and Kazakhstan in particular and EAEU countries in general, and transshipping goods to Europe through the trans-Caspian international transport route.

Kazakhstan also wants to beef up bilateral collaboration in digital transformation, artificial intelligence and high-tech finance, they said, vowing to remove obstacles and provide optimal conditions for businesses of the two sides to partner with each other, and back Vietnamese firms in investing in strong areas of Kazakhstan such as processing, garment, agriculture, finance and banking. Kazakhstan wishes to increase the exports of cereals, wheat, and petrochemical products to Vietnam, they said.

Both sides agreed that the signing of an agreement on visa exemption for citizens holding ordinary passports and the opening of direct flights between Việt Nam and Kazakhstan (from Cam Ranh to Almaty and Astana) will facilitate the development of bilateral partnership in trade, tourism and people-to-people exchanges.

Regarding parliamentary cooperation, Định and Kazakh leaders concurred to promote ties between the two legislatures in both bilateral and multilateral frameworks. They agreed to increase delegation exchanges and continue to support each other at multilateral parliamentary forums, and strengthen supervision over the implementation of agreements signed during President Tokayev's visit to Việt Nam and other important agreements between the two countries.

During his stay, NA Vice Chairman Định also attended the inauguration of a showroom of Vietnamese consumer products. — VNS