Secretary of the HCM City Party Committee Nguyễn Văn Nên (right) welcomes Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea Park Byeong-Seug. — VNA/VNS Photo Xuân Khu

HÀ NỘI — Speaker of the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s National Assembly (NA) Park Byeong-seug left HCM City on Wednesday evening, concluding his five-day official visit to Việt Nam at the invitation of Vietnamese NA Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân.

During the trip, Park held talks with the Vietnamese top legislator, paid a courtesy call to Party General Secretary and State President Nguyễn Phú Trọng, met Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, and received President of the Vietnam-RoK Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group Trần Văn Túy.

At these functions, both sides affirmed the two nations shared a long standing relationship and people-to-people exchange, with their strategic cooperative partnership deepened and growing robustly.

The RoK is the biggest among 136 foreign investors in Việt Nam by registering a total capital of US$70.2 billion and operating close to 9,000 valid projects. It also ranks second in ODA provision for, trade with, and reception of workers from Việt Nam. It is also one of the key sources of foreign tourists to the Southeast Asian country.

The Vietnamese side appreciated the RoK Government’s presentation of the US$300,000 aid to the country’s Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control to help address heavy consequences caused by recent storms and floods in the central region.

Regarding East Sea issue, the sides affirmed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight in the waters, along with peacefully resolving disputes in line with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Meanwhile, they said the two parliaments have cooperated well to contribute to the Việt Nam-RoK strategic cooperative partnership. Via parliamentary diplomacy, the two sides have helped enhance political trust and people-to-people exchange, expand and improve the effectiveness of cooperation in different fields, and share views on regional and international issues of common concern. They have also supported the two governments’ cooperation programmes and plans as well as the regional cooperation and connectivity frameworks that both countries promote.

Currently, the two legislatures are implementing their cooperation pacts signed in July 2013, with delegation exchanges well organised.

The two parliaments agreed to maintain all-level meetings in flexible forms amid the COVID-19 pandemic and to create a favourable environment for concurrently fighting against the disease, boosting socio-economic development, and gradually bringing bilateral collaboration to normal.

They also agreed to further listen to opinions from Vietnamese and RoK citizens so as to monitor the implementation of policies, thus creating a stable and favourable legal environment for citizens living in each other’s territories. In addition, they would continue bringing into play the role of their parliamentary friendship groups. — VNS