(VOVWORLD) -Vietnam has always treasured its ties with Australia, which is one of its key partners and plays a growing role in the region and the world, said National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan during talks in Hanoi on Monday with Speaker of the House of Representatives of Australia Tony Smith.
 NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan welcomes Australia’s House Speaker Tony Smith in Hanoi, July 23, 2018. |
Ms. Ngan said the elevation of bilateral relations to a strategic partnership in March has created a new important framework for enhancing all-round cooperation in a more substantial manner.
She asked Australia to continue assisting Vietnam in infrastructure, agriculture and rural development, poverty reduction, climate change response, and human resource development.
The two sides said bilateral defense cooperation is becoming more and more substantive, trustworthy, and stable, especially in terms of coordination in United Nations peacekeeping missions, fighting terrorism and trans-national crimes, and training English.
Chairwoman Ngan called on Australia to further help Vietnam address the consequences of unexploded ordnances (UXO) and provide information about missing Vietnamese soldiers, as agreed in a memorandum of understanding inked in 2015.
Speaker Tony Smith said the recent visits between leaders of the two parliaments and Governments have shown the strong connections between Australia and Vietnam.
The two leaders agreed that maintaining peace, stability, security, safety, and freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea is crucial to all countries in the region. They underlined the importance of resolving disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law.
 Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong receives Australia’s House Speaker Tony Smith. |
The same day, House Speaker Smith paid a coutersy visit to Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong, who thanked the Australian Government for backing Vietnam’s bid for a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council for the 2020-2021 tenure, as well as Vietnam’s role in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the region.
Mr. Trong highly valued Australia’s consistent stance on the East Sea issue and urged the two sides to continue their close cooperation at multilateral forums, for peace, stability, cooperation, and development in Southeast Asia and the East Sea.
Mr. Smith said he believes that legislative cooperation and people-to-people exchanges between Vietnam and Australia are solid evidence of the development of bilateral ties. He noted that Australia’s consistent stance on the East Sea issue is clear and matches that of Vietnam.