Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue held online talks with Speaker of the Parliament of Singapore Tan Chuan-Jin on July 14.
The two leaders shared the view that Vietnamand Singapore have close ties both bilaterally and within the framework of ASEAN andmultilateral forums. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, both sides have offered mutualsupport at national and regional level, including in fair distribution ofCOVID-19 vaccines via the COVAX Facility.
They said the two countries have held thesame stances and visions on maintaining the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)’s central role and solidarity.
The leaders agreed that the Vietnam-SingaporeIndustrial Parks have drawn over 14 billion USD in investment and generated more than 270,000jobs, proving fruitful economic ties and contributing to the Vietnam – Singapore strategic partnership. Singapore isnow the largest foreign investor in the country, showing its enterprises’ trustin Vietnam.
Amid complicated developments ofthe COVID-19 pandemic, they agreed to continue sharing experience, especially inaccessing vaccines and adopting technological advances in pandemic preventionand control.
Both top legislators expressed their wish to further boostthe bilateral strategic partnership, including relations between the two legislatures.
Theyagreed to continue maintaining meetings in different forms, working closely together atmultilateral forums such as the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, theInter-Parliamentary Union, the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum and othermultilateral parliamentary organisations, and supporting each other's stances onregional and global issues of shared concern.
Hue suggesteddiscussing the possibility of mutual recognition of vaccine certificates,soon reaching an agreement on priority travelling mechanism, and resumingcommercial flights when conditions allow.
He also proposedconsidering the signing of a cooperation agreement between the two legislaturesto lay a legal foundation for cooperation activities, lifting legislative ties to be on par with the bilateralstrategic partnership. Further attention should be paid to upholding the roleof the two law-making bodies in promoting the bilateral relationship.
At the talks (Photo: VNA) The Singaporean Speaker agreed with Hue's proposals, saying that thetwo countries’ mutual support in the region and multilateral forums play a extremely important role.
He stressed that ASEAN has an important position thanks to collective power of each member state, including Vietnam’s increasingstature in the region./.
