State President meets President of Federal Council of Austria

President Vo Van Thuong (L) and President of the Federal Council of Austria Claudia Arpa (Photo: VNA)

Vienna (VNA) – Vietnamalways values the strengthening of ties with Austria, its important andreliable partner in Europe, State President Vo Van Thuong told President of theFederal Council of Austria Claudia Arpa during a meeting in Vienna on July 24.

The leader thanked theFederal Council for providing support to Vietnam in socio-economic developmentand global integration, particularly during the difficult period caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In order to reinforce inter-parliamentarycooperation, he suggested that both sides should facilitate the exchange of delegations at alllevels to increase political trust, create favourable conditions for bilateralties, and work closely together at global and regional inter-parliamentaryforums.

Vietnam isready to act as a bridge to step up cooperation between the Austrian Parliamentand the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, he said.

Arpa, for her part, committedher support to further bolster bilateral ties, especially in climate changeresponse, renewable energy and vocational training.

She spokehighly of Vietnam's active and responsible role at global and regional inter-parliamentaryforums, especially National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue’s attendance atthe World Conference of Speakers of Parliament hosted by Austria in September2021.

The hostwished that Vietnam would serve as a bridge to boost ties between the AustrianParliament and the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly.

Both sidespledged to continue close coordination and mutual support at multilateral forumsand international organisations such as the United Nations, the Asia-EuropeMeeting (ASEM), the ASEAN-EU framework, as well as the Inter-Parliamentary Union andthe Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership Meeting,for the sake of peace,cooperation and development in the region and the world.

Theyexpressed belief that cooperative ties between the Vietnamese NA and theAustrian Parliament will grow further in the future, thus making positivecontributions to traditional friendship and all-around cooperation betweenVietnam and Austria.

Accepting theVietnamese NA’s invitation, Arpa pledged to a send a delegation to theninth Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians in Vietnam in September./.

VNA