The Australian Parliament always attaches importance to developing itscooperation with the Vietnamese National Assembly (NA), an Australianofficial has said.
Speaker of the Australian House ofRepresentatives, Bronwyn Bishop, made the statement during a receptionfor Vietnamese Ambassador to Australia Luong Thanh Nghi on May 28.
She said she hopes that the two legislative will play a more active role in further strengthening the two countries’ relations.
Bishopalso highly appreciated the contributions of the Vietnamese communityliving in Australia to the host country’s development, as well aspromoting the two countries’ ties.
For his part, Ambassador Nghibriefed the host on the Vietnamese NA’s recent activities, includinglast year’s constitution amendment. He also conveyed NA Chairman NguyenSinh Hung’s invitation to the speaker to attend the 132 nd IPUAssembly scheduled to be held in Vietnam in March 2015.
Speakinghighly of the positive development in the bilateral ties andmultilateral cooperation in the region, the ambassador thanked Australiafor its increasing development assistance to Vietnam in recent years.
Healso informed the speaker of recent developments related to China’sillegal act of stationing the Haiyang Shiyou-981 oil rig in Vietnam’sexclusive economic zone and continental shelf.
This seriouslyviolates Vietnam’s sovereign right and jurisdiction as well asinternational law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention onthe Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Declaration on the Conduct ofParties in the East Sea (DOC), and threatens peace, stability, securityand navigation safety and freedom in the region and the world, Nghistressed.
In her reply to Nghi, Bishop expressed her concern andshared the Australian Government’s position on the issue. She alsounderlined the importance of respecting international law and ensuringpeace, stability and security in the region.-VNA