JAKARTA – Speaker of the People’s Representative Council of Indonesia Setya Novanto met with Việt Nam’s Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng yesterday in Jakarta, saying his country attaches importance to enhancing co-operation with Việt Nam.

Welcoming the Vietnamese leader’s official visit, Novanto expressed his admiration for the country’s struggle for national independence and its achievements over three decades of reforms, especially in spurring economic growth, maintaining political and social stability and improving people’s living standards.

General Secretary Trọng shared his good impressions of Indonesia and recalled meetings between late Presidents Hồ Chí Minh and Sukarno. He congratulated Indonesia on its achievements, voicing his belief that Indonesian people would go from strength to strength.

Việt Nam and Indonesia play important roles in ASEAN and are trustworthy partners of each other and share many similar viewpoints, according to the leaders.

The countries should expand relations via Parties, Governments, parliaments and people’s organisations, helping to reinforce their friendship and strategic partnership, the leaders said.

They agreed to work to boost bilateral trade to US$8 billion in 2018 and $10 billion in the near future. The figure stood at $5.6 billion in 2016.

At the meeting, General Secretary Trọng and Speaker Novanto lauded the relationship between the National Assembly of Việt Nam and the People’s Representative Council of Indonesia.

Both sides needed to step up co-operation in all spheres, including increasing delegation exchanges between subordinate committees and enhancing activities of parliamentary friendship groups, aiming to foster co-operation and experience sharing between the two legislative bodies.

They should also step up information exchanges, co-ordination and mutual support at international and regional forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly and the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum, the leaders added.

Party General Secretary Trọng hopes the People’s Representative Council of Indonesia and the National Assembly of Việt Nam, as the representative agencies of the two countries’ people, will contribute more to the bilateral friendship, co-operation and strategic partnership.

On this occasion, he delivered an invitation to visit Việt Nam from National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân to Speaker Novanto, who accepted the invitation.

Novanto asked his guest to convey his invitation to Chairwoman Ngân to attend the IPU Assembly in Bali on September 6.

On the same day, Party General Secretary Trọng met with Speaker of Indonesia’s Regional Representative Council Oesman Sapta Odang.

The two sides agreed that Việt Nam and Indonesia have long-standing relations and as members of ASEAN, they have many opportunities to enhance their relations.

The deepening of the bilateral strategic partnership would not only aid their people but also help build an ASEAN of solidarity, unity and strength, thus promoting peace, stability and development in the region and beyond, they said.

They added that the development of co-operation between their State agencies at central and local levels as well as between groups of parliamentarians would help increase the operational efficiency of Việt Nam’s National Assembly and Indonesia’s legislative bodies.

This would also increase political trust and reinforce bilateral friendship and co-operation, they said.

Party leader Trọng congratulated Indonesia on its achievements in recent years and the country’s growing position in the international arena.

The Indonesian Speaker pledged to contribute to enhancing the two nations’ co-operative ties, including experience exchanges in monitoring the government’s activities and boosting co-operation among localities.—VNS