Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Trần Thanh Mẫn (left) and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev at their meeting in Tashkent on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo

TASHKENT — Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly (NA) Trần Thanh Mẫn met with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Tashkent on Monday afternoon (local time), within the framework of his official visit to the Central Asian country and his attendance at the 150th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU-150).

Welcoming the top legislator of Việt Nam, President Mirziyoyev stressed the significance of the visit in promoting the two countries’ relations, and affirmed that Việt Nam is a traditional friend and an important partner of Uzbekistan in Southeast Asia.

He expressed his admiration for Việt Nam's remarkable achievements in economic development, social welfare, and international integration over the past nearly four decades, considering it a model of progress of a middle-power country from which Uzbekistan wishes to learn.

Chairman Mẫn congratulated Uzbekistan on successfully hosting the IPU-150, noting Việt Nam's participation in the event reflects its spirit of solidarity, friendship, and desire to further promote the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation for both countries' development and prosperity.

Sharing Việt Nam’s notable achievements in socio-economic development, political stability, and major orientations toward a new era, he emphasised that Việt Nam always values its time-tested friendship with Uzbekistan and hopes to further strengthen it to live up to the potential of the two countries.

Discussing many issues on bilateral cooperation, the two leaders applauded the strides in relations between the countries in the recent past and attributed that progress partly to significant contributions by the two legislative bodies.

They agreed that in the coming time, it is necessary to increase extensive political dialogue at all levels, especially at the high level, between the Vietnamese and Uzbek parties, states, governments, and parliaments; maintain close coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums; further reinforce cooperation between their legislative bodies and share experiences in supervising law enforcement and making decisions about nationally important issues; and review and sign cooperation documents to create a solid legal framework for bilateral relations to grow comprehensively.

Besides, the two leaders agreed to enhance oversight and monitoring to ensure that agreements and documents are implemented effectively and fully.

To further promote bilateral economic, trade, and investment cooperation to a new height, they agreed on the need to encourage businesses from both countries to connect with each other and explore cooperation opportunities in areas such as health care, energy, oil and gas, textile - garment, and agriculture.

President Mirziyoyev and Chairman Mẫn shared the view that that there remains ample potential for the two countries to bolster cooperation in fields such as transport connectivity, tourism, culture, education and training, and locality-to-locality ties. Việt Nam and Uzbekistan should create favourable conditions for enhancing tourism links and people-to-people exchanges while considering the launch of more air routes, increasing the frequency of direct flights, and implementing favourable visa policies for each others' citizens.

On this occasion, Chairman Mẫn conveyed an invitation from Party General Secretary Tô Lâm and State President Lương Cương to President Mirziyoyev to visit Việt Nam. The host leader expressed his readiness to visit Việt Nam at the earliest opportunity and expressed his wish to welcome General Secretary Lâm and other Vietnamese leaders to Uzbekistan. — VNS