National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (right) and visiting Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The top legislators of Vietnam and Russia haveagreed that the parliamentary cooperation is one of the important pillars ofthe partnership between Vietnam and Russia.
National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and visiting Chairman of theState Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav ViktorovichVolodin reached the consensus during their talks in Hanoi on December 24.
The collaboration between the Vietnamese NA and the State Duma in particularand the Federal Assembly in general has developed fruitfully over the pasttime, both bilaterally and multilaterally, they said.
The two sides have actively implemented a cooperation agreement signed in 2013,while regularly maintaining the exchange of high-ranking delegations and thoseof the legislatures’ agencies and friendship parliamentarians’ groups as wellas sharing experience in legislation and supervision, thus improving theoperational efficiency of each country’s parliament. They have also coordinatedwith and supported each other at multilateral parliamentary cooperationmechanisms.
The State Duma Chairman said the two countries’ parliamentary ties shouldcontinue to be fostered. The two sides need to create a new foundation in thelegislation field in order to create a momentum for the bilateral relations tofurther thrive in the future.
Sharing the outcomes of his meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, theRussian guest said the two sides exchanged views on several projects andexperience in building e-government and the digital economy. He affirmed thatthe Russian side is ready to support Vietnam in these fields.
The leaders agreed that tourism cooperation between the two countries has seengigantic development, with increases in the numbers of Russian visitors toVietnam and Vietnamese arrivals to Russia.
According to the State Duma Chairman, in 2017, 512,000 Russians visited Vietnamand the figure rose to over 700,000 this year. Russia is expected to be namedin the top 10 sources of visitors to Vietnam.
Russia is also willing to provide more scholarships to Vietnam to train Russianlanguage teachers in high schools, in addition to 1,000 scholarships providedfor Vietnamese students, he added.
NA Chairwoman Ngan spoke highly of Russia’s increase of scholarships forVietnam, expressing her belief that this is an important human resource forVietnam as well as a firm foundation for the closer friendship between the twonations in the future.
She thanked the Russian people for giving their good sentiments and valuableassistance to Vietnam during the national construction and defence.
Vietnam always treasures and prioritises consolidating its comprehensivestrategic partnership with Russia, and wishes to bolster the effectivecooperation between the two countries and their localities in all fields, shesaid.
Both host and guest agreed with pleasure that the bilateral political ties havebeen continuously consolidated via the regular exchange of all-leveldelegations. They expressed their belief that together with the Russia visit byGeneral Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee NguyenPhu Trong in September and the visit to Vietnam by Russian Prime MinisterDmitry Medvedev in November, this visit by the Chairman of the State Duma willcreate a strong driving force to boost the two nations’ all-roundcollaboration.
Thetop legislator used the occasion to thank Russia for backing Vietnam’s run fornon-permanent seat at the UN Security Council for the 2020-2021 tenure.
Both noted with pleasure progress made in the bilateral economic, trade andinvestment ties since the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the EurasianEconomic Union (EAEU) took effect in October 2016, with two-way trade reaching3.55 billion USD in 2017 and 3.85 billion USD in the first ten months of thisyear.
NA Chairwoman Ngan suggested thetwo countries fully tap potential for economic, trade and investmentcooperation, making it match with the sound political relations, optimiseadvantages generated by the Vietnam-EAEU FTA, and remove non-tariff barriers,especially those against farm produce and seafood.
The affiliation in energy, especially oil and gas, should continue to be animportant pillar of the Vietnam-Russia cooperation, she said, lauding the planto expand collaboration between oil and gas companies of the two countries insuch spheres as liquefied natural gas (LNG),electrification and motor fuel production, she said.
She added that the two countries hold substantial potential for cooperation inthe high-tech sector, covering e-Government building in Vietnam and thedevelopment of the global navigation satellite system (GLONASS).
Achievements have also been recorded in partnerships in national defence andsecurity, military technology, education-training, science-technology, cultureand tourism, the leader said.
She stressed Vietnam’s support for the initiative to establish theinter-parliamentary cooperation committee between the Vietnamese NA and the State Duma, and expressed her beliefthat the committee will operate effectively, contributing to enhancingcoordination between the two legislatures.
Host and guest agreed that the committee will meet annually in rotation exceptone of them has other suggestions. The first meeting is slated for 2019 in Vietnam.
V.V.Volodin invited Ngan to pay an official visit to Russia at an early date.The Vietnamese top legislator accepted the invitation with pleasure.
Following their talks, the leaders signed an agreement on the establishment ofthe inter-parliamentary cooperation committee, which aims to promotecooperation between the two legislative bodies.
It is also expected to create conditions for the two sides to exchangeexperience in legislation, supervision and decision making on major nationalmatters and join hands in inter-parliamentary activities within internationalorganisations and conferences, covering cooperation in Asia-Europe.
The committee will also work to help expand and enhance cooperation betweenVietnam and Russia across fields and assist the supervision of theimplementation of valid international treaties between the two countries.
National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (right) and Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin host the joint press conference. (Photo: VNA)At their joint press conference later, Ngan said the State Duma delegation’s visitis very significant and a continuation of visit exchange to bolstering theextensive cooperation between the two countries and their legislative bodies,adding that it marks a new development step in the comprehensive strategicpartnership between Vietnam and Russia.
She said the Vietnamese National Assembly and the State Duma will do theirutmost to support the bilateral cooperation across the fields and provide afavourable legal framework to step up the trade, economic, investment, andtourism cooperation and people-to-people exchanges at all levels.
“Theoutstanding result of this visit is the signing of an agreement on the establishmentof the inter-parliamentary cooperation committee between the National Assemblyand the State Duma. The Vietnam National Assembly has for the first time formedsuch a bilateral inter-parliamentary mechanism with another parliament,” saidNgan.
“The new mechanism demonstrates the political trust between the two countries’leaders as well as the determination to boost the parliamentary cooperationbetween the two countries. It will allow the two countries to increase theirpartnership in fields with potentials, especially the parliamentary cooperation,thus taking the two country’s traditional cooperation to the next level,” sheadded.
The State Duma Chairman added that the inter-parliamentary cooperation committeeis a new cooperative form that will create more impetus for the development ofcooperation between the two sides in various fields, including the digitaleconomy. It will become a new platform to seek new cooperative fields for thetwo countries in the future.
As Vietnam and Russia have involved in the comprehensive strategic partnership,the relations between the two parliamentary agencies need to be boosted so itwill contribute to promoting friendship, mutual understanding and trust, hesaid.
“We are working towards implementing agreementsreached by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President V. Putin inSeptember, 2018 and those between Prime Ministers Nguyen Xuan Phuc and DmitryMedvedev. The two countries’ parliaments need to step up the development paceof the bilateral ties using the existing cooperative forms and work together toseek for new cooperative modes,” the State Duma leader said.
At noon, Chairwoman Ngan hosted a banquet in honour of the State Duma ChairmanV.V. Volodin.
Earlier on December 23, the State Duma delegation laid a wreath at the Monumentfor Martyrs, paid tribute to late President Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum, andvisited the President Ho Chi Minh Relic Site in Hanoi.-VNA
VNA
