Permanent Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly (NA) Tòng Thị Phóng delivers speech at the Governing Council meeting and the General Debate of the 136th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) being held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. — VNA/VNS Photo Huy Bình

DHAKA – Permanent Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly (NA) Tòng Thị Phóng has attended the Governing Council meeting and the General Debate of the 136th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) being held in in Dhaka, Bangladesh. 

On the sidelines of the meetings, Phóng on Sunday met with Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament Karu Jayasuriya, during which she affirmed Việt Nam’s consistent policy of treasuring its traditional friendship and multi-faceted co-operation with Sri Lanka. 
She proposed the two countries continue co-ordinating and supporting each other at multilateral forums, especially within the framework of the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement. 
She suggested maintaining the exchange of delegations at all levels, studying measures to further increase two-way trade, and actively implementing the investment encouragement and protection agreement between Việt Nam and Sri Lanka. 
The NA Vice Chairwoman also stressed the need to encourage the two countries’ businesses to take part in trade promotion activities, boost experience sharing and the exchange of science and technology in aquatic product farming and processing, and strengthen connectivity through the two governments’ Air Transport Agreement. 
She asked for an early reply from the Sri Lankan side on a draft agreement on educational co-operation between the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training and the Sri Lankan Ministry of Higher Education and Highways. 
The Vietnamese official took the occasion to invite Jayasuriya to attend an IPU conference for the Asia-Pacific region in HCM City from May 11-13 to discuss legislators’ actions to realise the sustainable development goals in the context of climate change. 
Speaker Jayasuriya expressed his hope of intensifying his country’s fine relationship, especially in trade, with Việt Nam. 
On the same day, Phóng met with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She said she hoped Bangladesh would continue creating favourable conditions for the two countries’ enterprises to seek business opportunities. 
Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly’s Committee for External Relations, Nguyễn Văn Giàu, had a meeting with a delegation from the Parliament of the Republic of Korea. 
Also on Sunday, the Vietnamese delegation participated in meetings of the IPU General Assembly Standing Committee, the Standing Committee on Peace and International Security, the Forum of Young Parliamentarians of the IPU, and the Bureau of the Standing Committee on United Nations Affairs.-VNS