National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân and Chairman of the State Duma of Russia Vyacheslav V. Volodin co-chair the first meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Co-operation Committee between the Vietnamese NA and the State Duma of Russia. — VNA/VNS Photo Trọng Đức

MOSCOW — Việt Nam treasured and was determined to strengthen its comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia, National Assembly (NA) Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân said during a meeting with Chairman of the State Duma of Russia Vyacheslav V. Volodin in Moscow on Wednesday as part of her official visit to Russia.

Ngân said Việt Nam was delighted at the enormous achievements the Russian people had made to raise Russia’s stature in the region and the world.

The country viewed parliamentary co-operation as an important field in the Việt Nam-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership, she said, adding that it highly valued the State Duma Chairman’s initiative to set up the Inter-Parliamentary Co-operation Committee, which is the highest parliamentary co-operation mechanism recognised by the Vietnamese NA.

The top legislator also applauded the mutual support and close co-ordination between the countries’ parliamentary bodies in the international arena, as well as their active participation in multilateral forums.

As Chair of the 41st General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), the Vietnamese NA would continue to promote the strategic partnership between ASEAN and Russia, helping to raise Russia’s standing in the region for peace, stability and development in the world, she said.

Ngân also asked both sides to increase exchange and co-operation between their parliaments, step up co-ordination in supervising and promoting the implementation of co-operation agreements signed between the two Governments, and perfect legal frameworks to help localities, businesses and people to bolster win-win co-operation.

Bilateral trade and investment ties had enjoyed progress since a free trade agreement was signed between Việt Nam and the Eurasian Economic Union, of which Russia is a member, that took effect in October 2016. Trade reached US$4.5 billion in 2018, up 30 per cent from 2017, and $3.4 billion in the first nine months of 2019.

Meanwhile, partnerships in energy, oil and gas remained an important pillar in economic links, she said, noting that during the visit, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ had held talks with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Kozak to discuss co-operation in this domain and seek ways to tackle difficulties.

The leader stressed that room for economic co-operation, trade and investment between the two countries remained high, and expressed her hope that Russia would increase co-operation with Việt Nam in the fields it had advantages in and Việt Nam had demand for.

She thanked Russia for increasing its scholarships for Vietnamese students to 1,000 each year, saying she hoped the two legislatures would facilitate the issuance of visas for Vietnamese citizens.

During the talks, Ngân informed her host of the socio-economic situation in Việt Nam, stressing that Việt Nam would continue to implement its foreign policy of independence, co-operation and development.

Việt Nam highly valued Russia’s stance on the East Sea issue, under which Russia supported the settlement of differences by peaceful measures on the basis of international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, contributing to the maintenance of peace, stability, freedom, safety and security of navigation and aviation in the East Sea.

For his part, the Russian leader said his country attached importance to the trip made by the NA Chairwoman, during which the two officials co-chaired the first meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Co-operation Committee between the Vietnamese NA and the State Duma of Russia.

Under the new mechanism, the two parliaments would further enhance their comprehensive strategic partnership, he said.

He added that the two countries were capable of achieving bilateral trade of $10 billion. 

Volodin also stressed the two sides would try to find out the causes of the decrease in the relations of bilateral trade this year to boost economic relations and trade and investment, on the basis of which concrete decisions could be made to reach the $10 billion target. — VNS