NA Chairwoman meets top Chinese leader

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (L) meets with Chinese Party General Secretary, President Xi Jinping in Beijing, China on July 12, 2019

At the meeting, Chinese President Xi Jinping conveyed his greetings to Vietnamese Party General Secretary, State President Nguyen Phu Trong, expecting Trong to soon visit China. 

He spoke highly of Viet Nam’s socio-economic development achievements, especially its effective international integration process and its gloabla status. 

The Chinese leader also highly valued cooperation between the two nations’ legislative bodies, saying it has contributed to enhancing the bilateral relationship. 

He suggested the two sides join hands in effectively launching the action plan for implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding on promoting connectivity within the framework of “Two corridors, one economic belt” and the Belt and Road Initiative. 

The two leaders highlighted the significance and effectiveness of high-level and contacts between their senior leaders as well as practical advancement of bilateral cooperation in such spheres like security, defense, economics, trade, investment, culture, education and tourism.

Ngan expected that the Chinese President will direct Chinese ministries and agencies to coordinate with the Vietnamese side to realize the agreements and perceptions reached by the two nations’ Party and State leaders, particularly outcomes gained during mutual visits made in 2017.  

China is willing to enhance economic cooperation with Viet Nam, said Xi Jinping, hoping that some model projects will be launched in the upcoming time.

On the occasion, he expressed thanks to Party chief Trong for his support to the Chinese candidate for the post of Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), asserting that China backs Viet Nam as the Chair of ASEAN in 2020 and its ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) Chairmanship.

Meanwhile Ngan thanked China for advocating Viet Nam to win a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council in the 2020-2021 tenure. 

The two sides need to take measures to boost the bilateral trade more sustainably in the direction of reducing Viet Nam’’s trade deficit. 

She called on the Chinese side to continue facilitating import of Vietnamese farm produce and sharing information about China’s export and import policies and work closely together to realize the projects as having been agreed by the two sides leaders. 

 Regarding the East Sea issue, the Vietnamese leader confirmed that Viet Nam expects to join hands with China to control disputes and satisfactorily address the issue to create foundation for the stable and sustainable development of the bilateral ties. 

The two sides must strictly abide by the Agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of sea-related issues reached by their high-ranking leaders and consistently handle the East Sea issue through peaceful measures based on mutual respect and the international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, she emphasized. 

Viet Nam and China should handle well issues related to fishing and activities of fishermen, maintain peace and stability in the East Sea, speed up the demarcation and cooperation for mutual development in accordance with the agreed roadmap and strive to make breakthroughs in the negotiations on the delimitation of waters off the mouth of the Tonkin Gulf in 2020, Ngan said. 

The two leaders agreed to direct their ministries, agencies and localities to make preparations for the organization of the 70th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties in 2020. On behalf of the Vietnamese Party and State leaders, Ngan invited Xi Jinping to pay a visit to Viet Nam and the latter said that he will re-visit Viet Nam in a suitable time. 

By Thuy Dung