Legislator meets RoK, Lao delegates on AIPA 40 sidelines

Bangkok (VNA) – Chairman of the National Assembly’s Committee for External Relations Nguyen Van Giau had separate meetings with former Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Lee Seok-hyun and Chairman of the Lao National Assembly’s External Relations Committee Eksavang Vongichit on August 26.

The meetings took place in Bangkok on the sidelines of the ongoing 40th General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA 40).

At the meeting with Lee Seok-hyun, Giau highlighted the strong development of the Vietnam-RoK strategic partnership, saying the two countries are each other’s leading important partners in all spheres.

More than 40 cities, provinces and localities of the two countries have signed cooperation agreements, he added.

Vietnam attaches importance to cooperation with the RoK, Giau said, expressing his hope that Korean parliamentarians will facilitate the Vietnamese community in the host country.

For his part, Lee informed Giau of the upcoming visit by the President of the RoK-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians Group, and affirmed that Vietnam holds an important position in the RoK’s New Southern Policy and the central role in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

At the meeting with Giau, the Lao official thanked Vietnam for hosting the seventh conference of external affairs committees of Vietnamese, Lao and Cambodian parliaments in Quang Ninh province earlier this month.

The Lao NA backs and wishes to help Vietnam assume the role of AIPA 41 Chair in 2020, he said.

For his part, Giau said proposals raised at the conference mainly focus on economic connectivity between the three countries, support policy, capital allocation and mobilization, and human resources.

The sides also compared notes on cooperation between the two external relations committees in the time ahead.-VNA