Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Trần Thanh Mẫn paid a courtesy visit to Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni on November 23, within the framework of his official visit. — VNA/VNS Photo Doãn Tấn

HÀ NỘI — National Assembly (NA) Chairman Trần Thanh Mẫn’s official visit to Cambodia contributed to strengthening political trust promoting economic, trade and investment cooperation. It also helped people-to-people exchanges, tightening defence and security relations and expanding collaboration on international and regional issues of mutual concern between the two countries, a Party official has said.

According to Chairman of the NA's Foreign Affairs Committee Vũ Hải Hà, this marked Mẫn's first visit to Cambodia as the top legislator, and was part of the diplomatic activities by key leaders of the Party and the State to advance the foreign policy outlined at the 13th Party Congress.

The four-day trip has highlighted the Party and State leaders' attention to overseas communities, particularly people of Vietnamese origin in Cambodia who have had longstanding bonds with the host country and made significant contributions to the bilateral relations and Cambodia's development.

During high-level meetings with the Vietnamese top legislator, Cambodian leaders hailed Việt Nam's recent development achievements and highlighted the strong bond between the two nations. They expressed deep gratitude to the Party, State, people and People's Army of Việt Nam for their support for Cambodia in defeating the genocidal regime and bringing peace and prosperity to the people.

Cambodian leaders said they were particularly impressed by the growing economic and trade relations between the two countries, with two-way trade expected to surpass $10 billion this year, Hà said, adding that building on the achievements attained over time, Việt Nam would continue to closely cooperate with Cambodia to foster even greater mutual growth and development in the future.

Hà also highlighted the significance of the visit to cooperation between the legislative bodies of the two countries.

NA Chairman Mẫn held talks with the President of the Cambodian National Assembly Samdech Khuon Sudary, during which they agreed to continue to effectively and substantially implement the contents of the cooperation agreement between the two legislative bodies signed in 2022, including enhancing the sharing of experience in law-making, supervision and decision-making on important issues, Hà stated.

The two sides would also strengthen coordination to monitor the implementation of cooperation agreements and boost exchanges between parliamentary agencies, friendship and young parliamentarian groups, along with female parliamentarians to further tighten their relationship, he said.

Mẫn and Sudary cut the ribbon to inaugurate the Cambodian National Assembly's administrative building – a gift from the Party, State and people of Việt Nam, providing a better facility for Cambodian legislators to effectively perform their duties and responsibilities.

The top legislators agreed to closely coordinate on international and regional issues of common concern, for the development of each country and the well-being and prosperity of their people. They committed to enhancing cooperation to support the two governments in effectively implementing bilateral agreements, thus making the Việt Nam-Cambodia relations stronger in the future, Hà noted.

The Party official also highlighted NA Chairman Mẫn's attendance at the 12th General Assembly of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) and the 11th plenary session of the International Parliament for Tolerance and Peace (IPTP-11) during the trip, which he said showed Việt Nam's support for Cambodia.

Mẫn's keynote speeches at the meetings conveyed Việt Nam's commitment to working together with the international community to maintain peace, stability, cooperation and development not only within the region but also in the world, he stated, noting that delegates at both conferences highly applauded the Vietnamese top legislator’s remarks.

Regarding future cooperation between Việt Nam and Cambodia, Hà said that the two sides would strengthen political trust through enhanced exchanges and engagements across all channels, including the party, government, parliament and people-to-people interactions, especially maintaining cooperative mechanisms such as meetings between Party and NA leaders.

Việt Nam and Cambodia would also expand defence-security cooperation, particularly agreeing on the principle of not allowing hostile forces to use the territory of one country to undermine the other.

The two countries would work together to boost economic, trade and investment, create more favourable conditions to promote trade cooperations, particularly by easing customs procedures and entry-exit regulations at border gates and encourage investment by Vietnamese enterprises in Cambodia, Hà said.

He added that Cambodian leaders also proposed enhancing cultural exchanges between the two countries, including organising cultural weeks and cultural days in each country annually on a rotating basis. — VNS