ANKARA — National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân held talks with Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Binali Yildirim in Ankara on Thursday as part of the Vietnamese leader’s official visit to Turkey.

During the talks, Ngân congratulated Turkey on the successful organisation of the third Meeting of Speakers of Eurasian Countries’ Parliaments, saying the hosting demonstrates the increased position of Turkey as well as its legislature in the region and the world at large.

Speaking highly of Turkey’s successful holding of the presidential and parliamentary elections last June, the top Vietnamese legislator expressed her hope that with his experience in the political sphere, Binali Yildirim will lead the Grand National Assembly to complete tasks assigned by Turkish people and voters.

Turkish Speaker Yildirim highlighted the fruitful development of the political bonds between Việt Nam and Turkey, and suggested that the two countries develop legislative ties apart from relations between Governments.

He said the friendship parliamentarians’ groups of the two countries play an important role in promoting legislative ties.

Welcoming the two governments’ coordination in implementing several agreements signed during his official visit to Việt Nam as the Prime Minister of Turkey 14 months ago, Speaker Yildirim said trade between the two countries is thriving, but unbalanced. Therefore, he stressed the need to carry out some projects to improve the situation while expressing his belief in the realisation of bringing bilateral trade value to US$4 billion by the end of 2020.

NA Chairwoman Ngân expressed her pleasure with the sound development of the Việt Nam-Turkey friendship and cooperation over the past 40 years.

Việt Nam always attaches importance to consolidating and developing friendship and multi-faceted cooperation with countries in South Europe and the Middle East, including Turkey – a leading economic partner of Việt Nam in the region, she said. She affirmed Việt Nam welcomes and stands ready to serve as a bridge to promote ties between Turkey and ASEAN.

The Vietnamese NA Chairwoman suggested that both sides enhance delegation exchanges at all levels to bolster solidarity and mutual understanding of the two peoples. Also, she asked Turkey to soon recognise Việt Nam as a market economy and remove protectionism measures and anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese exports.

At the talks, both sides discussed global and regional issues of mutual interest, including the East Sea issues. They agreed that maintaining peace, stability, security and aviation and navigation safety in the waters is of mutual benefit to all countries.

The Speaker of Turkish Grand National Assembly affirmed that he supports the settlement of disputes in the East Sea by peaceful means which are in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

NA Chairwoman Ngân took the occasion to invite her Turkish counterpart to pay an official visit to Việt Nam. The same day, in Ankara, NA Chairwoman Ngân and the Vietnamese delegation laid a wreath of flowers at the tomb of Kemal Mustafa Ataturk, the first President of Turkey. — VNS