HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam always cherishes its developing friendship and cooperative ties with the Federated States of Micronesia, said Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân during her talks with Micronesian Speaker of the Congress Wesley W. Simina in Hà Nội yesterday.

Touting the sound political ties between the two nations in the past, particularly after they established diplomatic relations on September 22, 1995, the top legislator thanked the Federated States of Micronesia for supporting Việt Nam’s bid to become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2008-2009 tenure.

As the two nations hold huge potential to develop cooperative ties in the fields of economy, trade, investment, culture and tourism, they should ink cooperation deals in the fields of their strengths, she suggested. Ngân noted that mutual support to deal with the consequences of natural disasters vividly illustrate the friendship between the two countries.

In the context of the complex developments of the regional and international situation, Việt Nam and the Federated States of Micronesia should coordinate and support each other at regional and multilateral forums and organisations, especially the United Nations, she stressed.

Simina appraised the importance of relations with Việt Nam, stating that the ongoing visit to the Southeast Asian country affirms the Federated States of Micronesia’s commitment to bolstering bilateral relations, particularly when the two countries are celebrating the 23rd founding anniversary of diplomatic ties.

The bilateral parliamentary diplomacy has been promoted in recent years, he said, extolling Việt Nam’s proactive participation in and hosting of the 132nd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in 2015 and the 26th Annual Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum in 2018.

He underlined that the Micronesian Government and Congress will do their utmost to accelerate cooperation with Việt Nam in agriculture, aquaculture and tourism.

Currently, small businesses of the Federated States of Micronesia are interested in landing investment in Việt Nam, he said, adding that both nations are enjoying fruitful cooperation on environmental and climate change issues.

The Vietnamese NA leader affirmed that Việt Nam always backs the Federated States of Micronesia as well as other South Pacific island countries in fostering a relationship with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), thus opening up new cooperation prospects for ASEAN and regional countries.

She suggested that the Federated States of Micronesia support Việt Nam’s candidacy for a non-permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council in the 2020-2021 tenure.

Affirming that both Việt Nam and the Federated States of Micronesia are coastal countries, Ngân held that the East Sea issue is the shared interest of all countries, while highlighting Việt Nam’s goodwill and constant policy of maintaining friendship with all regional countries, and dealing with disputes in the East Sea through peaceful measures in line with international law, the UN Charter and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 as well as other regional commitments

Regarding the relationship between the two parliaments, both sides expressed their intense delight at the growth of legislative cooperation both bilaterally and at multilateral parliamentary forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF).

On the occasion, Ngân lauded Simina’s role as the Chair of the Asia-Pacific Group at the 138th Assembly of the IPU in Geneva, Switzerland, from March 24-28. During the event, participants welcomed the report by Việt Nam in the role of a member of the IPU Executive Committee.

She proposed that in the coming time, the two sides should increase the exchange of high-ranking delegations and people-to-people exchanges, while setting up mechanisms of cooperation and negotiation, moving inexorably towards the signing of agreements on investment protection and double-tax avoidance as well as in technical cooperation.

Besides, the two sides should promote trading in agricultural products, consumer goods and agricultural machineries.

The Vietnamese top legislator stated that Việt Nam can share its experience with the Federated States of Micronesia in growing rice and industrial crops, ensuring food security, processing industrial trees’ products, infrastructure construction and tourism development.

She said that Việt Nam has dozens of thousands of fishing vessels as well as experience in aquaculture, which are a great advantage in boosting cooperation with the Federated States of Micronesia, a country possessing large territorial waters. — VN