ANKARA — Việt Nam’s National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân had a meeting on Thursday (local time) with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during which she affirmed that Việt Nam always treasured the friendship and all-round cooperation with southern Europe and the Middle East, including Turkey as its leading economic partner in that region.
Congratulating the Turkish Grand National Assembly for successfully organising the third Meeting of Speakers of Eurasian Countries’ Parliaments (MSEAP 3), the Vietnamese top legislator spoke highly of Turkey’s national construction and development which helped the country enter the world’s top 20 economies. 
She said that her visit to Turkey aimed to bolster and deepen the traditional friendship and cooperation between the two countries in general and the two parliaments in particular.
Briefing the Turkish State leader on Việt Nam’s socio-economic development and its foreign policy of active international integration, NA Chairwoman Ngân said that Việt Nam stood ready to act as a bridge to enhance relations between Turkey and the ASEAN bloc.
"Việt Nam and Turkey have enjoyed fruitful ties in the past 40 years, with cooperation extended in various sectors," she said, urging joint efforts to lift the two-way trade to US$4 billion by 2020.
She asked the Turkish President to support the two parliaments’ cooperation and coordination at multilateral parliamentary forums.
Chairwoman Ngân suggested to the Turkish President that the two countries should boost trade and transport collaboration, especially in navigation, shipbuilding and exchange of maritime technology and technique.
She also recommended strengthening partnership in security-defence, science-technology, culture, education and training, and people-to-people exchange.
The Turkish President expressed his delight to welcome Ngân, the first leader of the Vietnamese NA to visit Turkey, at a time when the two countries are celebrating the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations. He noted that this was an important milestone in the bilateral relations.
President Erdogan said that Turkey supported the settlement of disputes in the East Sea (South China Sea) by peaceful means in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
He informed Ngân of his plan to visit Việt Nam this year with several enterprises to enhance trade and economic cooperation, and hopes that a free trade agreement (FTA) will be inked between the two countries on the occasion. 
The President affirmed that cooperation with Việt Nam offers opportunities for Turkey to further collaboration with the ASEAN member states. Turkey recently signed an FTA with Malaysia and Singapore, he added. — VNS