At the event (Photo: VNA)Phnom Penh (VNA) – National AssemblyChairman Vuong Dinh Hue held talks with President of the National Assembly ofCambodia Samdech Heng Samrin in Phnom Penh on November 19, following the official welcome ceremony for the Vietnamese leader.
NA Chairman Hue congratulated Cambodia onpositive results on its capacity as ASEAN Chair 2022 and success of the recent40th and 41st ASEAN Summits and related summits.
He believed that Cambodia will successfullyhold the upcoming 43rd ASEANInter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA-43), making substantive contributions toASEAN and improving its role and position.
Heng Samrin, for his part, thanked theVietnamese Party, State and people for providing support for the Cambodian peoplein the past struggle for national independence and current national constructionand development, especially helping them escape from the genocidal regime.
Hailing Vietnam’s impressive achievements in thefight against COVID-19 and post-pandemic socio-economic recovery and development, he wishedthat the Vietnamese people, under the leadership of the Communist Party ofVietnam led by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, will successfully realisethe Resolution adopted by the 13th National Party Congress and makeimportant strides to turn Vietnam into a modern industrialised nation.
On the occasion, he also thanked Vietnam forsupporting the construction of the Cambodian NA’s new building, thuscontributing to improving the working efficiency of the Cambodian legislature.The work is scheduled for completion in 2024.
Expressing satisfaction with the development ofVietnam-Cambodia ties over the past years, both sides said bilateral politicalrelations have kept growing via the exchange of high-level visits through allchannels and effective cooperation mechanisms. They affirmed determination to furtherconsolidate friendship and deepen their substantive and effective cooperation, consideringit an indispensable requirement for both countries.
Thetwo sides vowed to continue facilitating the exchange of delegations at alllevels; create favourable conditions and seek effective measures to boost cooperationin fields of great potential such as trade-investment, banking, agriculture,industrial crops, education and training, information and communications,transportation, culture and people-to-people exchange while encouraging trade,services and cooperation activities between localities, especially those inborder areas.
In national defence-security, they pledged to enhance joint workto fight terrorism, trans-national crimes, smuggling, drug and humantrafficking. They expressed the principle of not allowing any hostile force touse the territory of one country to harm the other's security and showed determination to seek mutually acceptable solutions to completing the remaining16% of land border demarcation, in an effort to build a borderline of peace,stability, cooperation and development between Vietnam and Cambodia.
Chairman Hue suggested Cambodia continue creating more favourableconditions related to legal papers for Cambodians of Vietnamese origin tosettle down their lives. He thanked Cambodia’s relevant agencies for workingclosely with Vietnam to save Vietnamese citizens who were tricked and forcedinto illegal labour in several foreigners' business establishments in Cambodia. Healso hoped for more support to Vietnamese citizens in order to help them return home.
President Heng Samrin promised to protect rights of and ensure non-discrimination against foreign enterprises, including Vietnameseinvestors, operating in Cambodia.
About coordination between the two legislatures, both leadershighlighted the importance of parliamentary cooperation bilaterally andmultilaterally. They also hailed the signing of a Memorandum of Understandingon cooperation between the two legislatures during the visit.
The Vietnamese guest proposed maintaining high-level visits by thetop legislators, NA committees' leaders, female and young parliamentarians, and initiallycreating conditions for the organisation of the meeting of the Vietnamese and Cambodian friendshipparliamentarians in central Vietnam in December.
Host and guest vowed to oversee the implementation of bilateraland multilateral international treaties and agreements to which the twocountries are members, especially new cooperation contents agreed by the two PrimeMinisters, build partnerships in upholding international law and promote multilateral solutions to global challenges such as climate change, green andsustainable development, food- energy-water resources and health security whilefurther stepping up joint cooperation and development programmes for the sake ofpeace, cooperation and development along the border areas.
On regional and global issues, they stressed that Vietnamand Cambodia need to strengthen coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums,especially within the framework of ASEAN and the Mekong sub-regionalcooperation mechanisms; actively contribute to strengthening solidarity andunity and upholding ASEAN’s central role, thus making positive contributions topeace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.
The two leaders underscored the importance ofensuring security, safety, freedom of navigation and overflight, enhancing trustbuilding, refraining from threat or use of force, adhering to international law, settling disputes bypeaceful means in line with international law, including the 1982 UnitedNations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Following the talks, they signed a MoU on cooperation betweenthe two legislatures; and witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreementbetween the Vietnamese NA Office and the Secretariat of the Cambodian NA, and the handover of equipment package worth 100,000 USD – a gift of the Vietnamese NA for its Cambodian counterpart./.
