Officials of Vietnam’s National Assembly (NA) hosted separate meetings with high-ranking representatives of the Russian and Italian parliaments in Hanoi on March 29 on the occasion of the 132nd Assembly of the Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU-132).

Meeting with Chief of Staff of Russia’s Federation Council Martynov Sergei Alexandrovich, Chairman of the NA Office Nguyen Hanh Phuc said Vietnam treasures its ties with the European country and continually works to bolster their multi-faceted cooperation.

He highlighted developments in their bilateral relations and expressed his wish that the Vietnamese NA Office and the Staff of Russia’s Federation Council would strengthen connections in information exchange, official training and consultations.

He also said he hopes the Russian Federation Council and the Chief of Staff will further assist the Vietnamese community living in Russia .

The Russian official spoke highly of Vietnam’s preparations for the IPU-132 while agreeing the two countries need to foster affiliation, experience exchange and information sharing to contribute to their relations.

The same day, Chairman of the NA Committee for Financial and Budgetary Affairs Phung Quoc Hien greeted Senator Francesco Maria Amouruso, Secretary for the Italian Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

Both sides shared the view that the two nations need to work more closely to effectively implement dialogue mechanisms and reinforce ties in economics, defence and other areas. They also stressed the importance of facilitating Italian investment in Vietnam in advantageous fields such as manufacturing, support, and energy industries.

Hien asked Italy to expeditiously approve and promote the European Commission’s ratification of the Framework Agreement for the Vietnam-European Union (EU) Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation. He also requested Italy support the EU’s recognition of Vietnam ’s market economy.-VNA