Chairwoman of the National Assembly of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (R) welcomes Cuban Ambassador to Vietnam Lianys Torres Rivera (Photo VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Chairwoman of theNational Assembly of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan hosted receptions fornewly-accredited Ambassadors of Cuba and Spain to Vietnam in Hanoi on December26.
Meeting with Cuban Ambassador Lianys TorresRivera, Ngan said the political ties between Vietnam and Cuba have beenincreasingly reinforced over the past time thanks to the maintenance ofall-level delegation exchanges, especially among high-ranking Party, State, andparliament officials.
She added that the official Vietnam visit of Chairmanof the Cuban National Assembly Esteban Lazo Hernandez in June 2017 helpedtighten the solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Cuba.
In 2018, Vietnam and Cuba will celebrate the45th anniversary of the historical visit of Cuban leader Fidel Castro – a bigfriend of Vietnamese people - to Quang Tri which was newly liberated in the warin 1973, she noted.
The fourth theoretical workshop between theCommunist Party of Vietnam and the Communist Party of Cuba will take place thesame year, she said, adding that the two countries will continue exchangingparliamentary activities.
The top legislator suggested increasingexchanges between Party, legislative, executive and judicial agencies tofurther deepen the bilateral cooperative rapports.
The Cuban Ambassador thanked Vietnam for sendingexperts to share experience in several fields in Cuba and support Cuban peopleto address consequences caused by natural disasters in 2017 in the context thatVietnam also encountered difficulties due to floods.
At a meeting with Spanish Ambassador Maria JesusFiga Lopez – Palop, Chairwoman Ngan expressed her pleasure at the elevation ofthe Vietnam-Spain cooperative relations to “strategic partnership towards thefuture”.
National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (R) and Spanish Ambassador to Vietnam Maria Jesus Figa Lopez – Palop (Photo VNA)Spain is the first country in Western Europe tolift cooperation with Vietnam to the strategic level, she said, adding that thedelegation exchanges at all levels have been maintained.
She thanked Spain for ratifying the Partnershipand Cooperation Agreement (PCA) between Vietnam and the EU and hoped thecountry and particularly the Spanish parliament will continue supportingVietnam to reach the official signing of the Vietnam-EU free trade agreement,which will open up new opportunities for the two sides to promote trade,economic and investment relations and comprehensive cooperation across thefields.
TheChairwoman hoped Spain will support Vietnam to become a non-permanent member ofthe UN Security Council for the 2010-2021 tenure.
She asked the new Spanish Ambassador to actively work topromote the two countries’ legislative bodies within the bilateral cooperationframework and at multilateral parliamentary forums such as the Inter-ParliamentaryUnion (IPU) and the Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership (ASEP).
The Spanish Ambassador pledged to closely workwith relevant Vietnamese agencies to develop the two countries’ cooperation ineconomics, trade, tourism, investment and infrastructure improvement.
She noted that two-way trade hit 2.9 billion USDin 2016, which is expected to be maintained in 2017. Spain is running 35investment projects in Vietnam, she added.-VNA
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