At the meeting of the House of Representatives of the Philippines (Photo: congress.gov.ph) Hanoi (VNA) – The House of Representatives of thePhilippines on November 21 adopted a resolution that would effectively boost bilateralties with Vietnam through the establishment of the Philippine-VietnamParliamentarians’ Friendship Society.
The resolution was passed ahead of the upcoming visit to the Philippines by Chairman of the Vietnamese National AssemblyVuong Dinh Hue, slated for November 23-25.
Theresolution said among the ten member countries of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), the Philippines and Vietnam have developed a special relation through the years anchored on shared goals, common visions, and mutual interests for the benefit of their peoples and towards a genuinely peaceful and productive path in regional cooperation.
“As amember of the ASEAN, the Philippines accords great importance to its continuingfriendship with the member countries, especially with Vietnam, and views thefriendship and historical ties of solidarity and cooperation among theSoutheast Asian countries as essential elements to attain peace and prosperityin the region,” the resolution said.
“ It is the mutual desire of the Philippinesand Vietnam to deepen and broaden their joint efforts towards the attainment ofregional peace and prosperity, foster mutual understanding and cooperation andfurther strengthen the ties of friendship and solidarity between them throughthe friendship society,” it further said, adding that to further strengthen thelong-standing friendship, the Philippines and Vietnam have pledged to continuethe exchange of visits by their respective parliamentarians.
NA Chairman Hue's upcomingvisit to the Philippines will be the first made by a senior Vietnamese leaderthis year and the NA Chairman after 16 years. It will be also the first trip tothe Philippines made by a foreign leader following its general election in May.
It willalso show Vietnam's respect for the new leadership of the Philippines and theVietnam-Philippines strategic partnership after the two countries celebrated the45th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties last year./.
