President Patrick Dewael of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and his delegation left HCM City on April 16 to successfully conclude an official three-day friendship visit to Vietnam.

Before leaving HCM City , President Patrick Dewael was received by Chairman of the HCM City People’s Council Pham Phuong Thao who confirmed that the friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries have been carried out in various sectors with practical results.

He emphasised the significance of Belgium ’s contributions to the city’s socio-economic development, through official development assistance (ODA), investment capital and cooperation on projects in infrastructure construction, environment, education and healthcare.

While in Vietnam from April 14-16, President Patrick Dewael held talks with National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong, met Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai and held a working session with leaders of the Ministry of Planning and Investment. He also went on working visits to the northern port city of Hai Phong and HCM City .

At the talks and meetings, the two sides expressed their wish to enhance the friendship and multi-faceted cooperation between the two countries in both the bilateral and multilateral fields.

In the context that Vietnam is Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) and that, also, Belgium will hold the presidency of the European Union in the second half of this year, Vietnam and Belgium reached agreement on increasing coordination, contributing to promoting the relationship between Vietnam and the EU, between Belgium and ASEAN, and between ASEAN and the EU.

The two sides proposed many concrete measures to develop bilateral economic, investment and trade ties, which remain modest to date, especially in the fields where Belgium has strengths and Vietnam has needs./.