National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung wrapped up his visits to Belgium, the UK, and the European parliament on Sunday. The visits have demonstrated Vietnam’s eagerness to cooperate with EU countries to boost its development.
Leaders of Belgium, the UK, and the European Parliament hailed their friendly relations with Vietnam before signing commitments to boost parliamentary, economic, trade, and investment cooperation.
At the 9th Vietnam – European inter-parliamentary meeting, the President of the South-East Asia Delegation of the European
Parliament applauded Vietnam’s effort to bring its legal system into line with international integration requirements. Werner Langen asked the Vietnamese National Assembly and the European Parliament to continue to exchange high-level visits to share information and experience in legislative work and boost bilateral relations. “We appreciated Vietnam’s reform process. The EU commits to boost its relation with Vietnam and will continue to support Vietnam in poverty reduction. We are expecting to negotiate the bilateral free trade agreement with Vietnam. Our two countries can further promote our potential if we accelerate the implementation of our commitments”, said Langen.
The parliamentary and government leaders of Belgium have acknowledged the fine relations between the two countries. Belgian Secretary of State Mark Eyskens said both sides should exert more effort to support their businesses and people in economic and trade cooperation. “Vietnam has exerted effort in boosting economic cooperation with countries, including Belgium and pushing the application of advanced technology. Belgian businesses and investors highly value business environment and opportunities in Vietnam. We hope Vietnam – Belgium cooperation will further flourish,” he said.
During a meeting with Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung, Deputy Speaker of the UK House of Commons
Lindsay Hoyle suggested that the two countries’ legislative bodies urge their governments to resolve pending issues in bilateral trade and investment to attain the set targets of the Vietnam-UK Strategic Partnership. “This is a very important delegation to the UK and Vietnam relations. The 2010 agreement that the two countries signed has not only grown over the last 12 months, but will continue to grow in the future. I believe this is good for the long term future of both countries and our cooperation in politics, economics, trade, science and in our fight against climate change. Together we can do this and together we can benefit from this high profile visit, said Hoyle.
Tran Van Hang, Chairman of the External Relations Committee of the National Assembly, said Vietnam has learnt more about causes and obstacles in its economic and trade relatios with other countries.”The results of these visits have been much better than we expected. We have established a Vietnamese Friends Group in the European Parliament comprised of loyal, dynamic people enthusiastic about boosting cooperation with Vietnam,” Hang said.
Song Thao