At the meeting (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Tong Thi Phong and VicePresident of the House of Councillors of Japan Ogawa Toshio agreed to promoteparliamentary cooperation between the two countries during their talks in Hanoion December 18.
Ogawa Toshio isleading a delegation of the House of Councillors of Japan on a working visit toVietnam from December 17 – 20.
The NA ViceChairwoman affirmed that Vietnam always considers Japan a trustful partner anda leading economic partner. She cited statistics that showed two-way trade hadreached 36.7 billion USD this year to November. Japan is the largest providerof official development assistance to Vietnam and the second largest foreigninvestor in Vietnam.
According toPhong, Vietnam and Japan have many complementary strengths, hence manyopportunities to boost their cooperation, especially when both of them aremembers of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-PacificPartnership.
She noted thatcooperation between the Vietnamese NA and Japan’s House of Councillors, as wellas between parliamentarians of the two countries has constantly been strengthened.
To further boost thepartnership between the legislative bodies of the two countries, ViceChairwoman Phong proposed that the two sides maintain high-level visits andmeetings, and support the two Governments in implementing signed agreements andcooperative programmes across the fields, while coordinating closely at internationaland regional forums.
She asked the Japaneseside to coordinate with and back Vietnam when the country serves as anon-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2020-2021, Chair of ASEANand Chair of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly in 2020.
The Japanese guesthighlighted that since the establishment of diplomatic relationship in 1973, theVietnam-Japan ties have unceasingly been strengthened and developed in allaspects, from politics to culture and people-to-people exchange. The twocountries have lifted their ties to an extensivestrategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia.
Ogawahighly valued Vietnam’s material and spiritual support for Japan in times of naturaldisasters.
He expressed thewish that the two countries will exchange more visits and share experience invarious fields.
The two countriesshould further promote cooperation and exchange between their legislativebodies, friendship parliamentary groups and parliamentarians, he said./.
VNA
