NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan delivers a speech at the Federation Council of Russia on December 11 (Photo: VNA)Moscow (VNA) – National Assembly(NA) Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan attended a plenary session of theFederation Council of Russia and delivered a speech there on December 11,affirming the traditional friendship and cooperation with Russia is a pricelessasset that Vietnam is determined to treasure and bring into play.
Addressing the session, held during her officialvisit to Russia, the top legislator said almost 70 years ago, on January 30,1950, the then Soviet Union set up diplomatic relationship with Vietnam,becoming one of the first countries to do so with the Southeast Asian nation.
She recalled the strong support the SovietUnion’s people gave to Vietnam during the struggle to defend and reunify thenation, and affirmed that Vietnam always keeps in mind and respects thewholehearted assistance from the Soviet Union’s people, including the Russianpeople, for its fight for national independence and reunification.
She also attributed the reconstruction anddevelopment of Vietnam partly to the Vietnam-Russia solidarity, noting that theSoviet Union and Russia have helped the country train tens of thousands ofcadres and build major structures of top importance to Vietnam’s socio-economicdevelopment.
Bilateral relations were lifted to the strategicpartnership in 2001 and the comprehensive strategic partnership – the highestrelationship framework of Vietnam – in 2012, marking a breakthrough developmentin the countries’ connections, she said.
On that basis, Vietnam-Russia ties have enjoyedstrong strides in the recent past, the chairwoman stressed, highlighting thehigh political trust and cooperation mechanisms established in all fields.
Economic links have been growing unceasinglywith bilateral trade hitting a record of 4.5 billion USD in 2018 and 3.4billion USD in the first nine months of 2019. Vietnam was the first country tosign a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, of which Russia isa key member. Additionally, bilateral investment has continued to be expandedwith many large projects, including those on oil and gas, carried out in bothcountries, according to the NA leader.
She added that cooperation in defence andsecurity has been increased while the people-to-people exchange has alsocontinually been enhanced. More and more young Vietnamese have chosen Russia tostudy in. Meanwhile, Vietnam remains a popular destination for Russian touristswith more than 600,000 people from Russia visiting the Southeast Asian nationin 2018, and the figure approximated 500,000 in the first nine months of thisyear.
It is hard to find any country that theVietnamese people have such profound sentiment for like Russia, and this comesfrom not only political and economic partnerships but also the similarities inthe two peoples’ soul and emotions as reflected through cultural exchanges andconnectivity, Ngan noted.
The Vietnamese leader went on to say that in thesound relations of the two countries, parliamentary cooperation has beenintensified unceasingly.
During the trip to Vietnam in December 2018 byChairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav V. Volodin, the two sides inked acooperation agreement on the establishment of an inter-parliamentary cooperationcommittee between the Vietnamese NA and the State Duma of Russia. Thiscommittee is the highest form of cooperation of the Vietnamese legislature,Ngan said.
She emphasised that amid the complexdevelopments and many potential risks in the international and regionalsituation, the continued enhancement of the Vietnam-Russia comprehensivestrategic partnership is not only an objective requirement but also theaspiration of the two countries’ leaders and peoples. It is also a factorhelping ensure the success of each nation’s reforms and development whilecontributing to peace, stability, cooperation, development and prosperity inthe region and the world.
Chairwoman Ngan underlined Vietnam’sappreciation of Russia’s stance on the East Sea issue, which is supporting thepeaceful settlement of disputes on the basis of international law, includingthe 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, so as to helpmaintain peace, stability, freedom, safety and security of navigation andoverflight in the East Sea, as well as supporting the full and seriousimplementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea andthe early finalisation of a code of conduct in the waters.
She repeated Party General Secretary and StatePresident Nguyen Phu Trong’s statement that Vietnam’s consistent policy is toalways attach importance to and further strengthen the comprehensive strategicpartnership with Russia, and consider Russia one of the leading partners.Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin also described Vietnam as a leadingpartner of his country in the Asia-Pacific region.
As Chair of ASEAN and the ASEANInter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) in 2020, Vietnam will continue reinforcingthe strategic partnership between ASEAN and Russia and help promote Russia’svoice and stature in the region, she noted, adding that as a non-permanentmember of the UN Security Council for 2020-2021, it will also keep workingclosely with Russia.
The NA leader expressed her belief that theVietnam-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership will keep developing andovercome every challenge and difficulty to match their long-standingfriendship.
In that process, their parliaments will continueplaying a crucial role in making favourable legal frameworks, increasingsupervision and stepping up the implementation of cooperation agreements andprojects. They will also coordinate with each other more closely atinternational inter-parliamentary forums for the sake of the two peoples, aswell as for peace, cooperation, development and prosperity in the region andthe world, she said.
The speech by NA Chairwoman Ngan was broadcastlive on the TV channel of the Federation Council (vmeste-rf.tv)./.
VNA
