Vietnam, Indonesia should raise trade to 10 billion USD: NA Chairwoman

Hano​i (VNA) – National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan urged Vietnam and Indonesia to increase the exchange of visits and optimize cooperative mechanisms to raise bilateral trade to 10 billion USD in 2018 from 5.4-5.6 billion USD a year during the past three years.

The top legislator made the call at a reception for Speaker of Indonesia’s Regional Representative Council Oesman Sapta in Hanoi on January 18 on the occasion of the guest’s visit to attend the 26th Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF-26) in Vietnam.

Ngan expressed her delight at the growing relations between Vietnam and Indonesia in recent years, stressing that the bilateral strategic partnership not only serves the practical benefits of the two peoples but also contributes to regional peace, stability and development, thus cementing links between member nations in the ASEAN Community.

She hailed the bilateral cooperation in defence-security, and urged the two sides to accelerate the signing of a coordination agreement on patrolling, and the establishment of a hotline between the two countries’ naval forces along with a policy dialogue mechanism at deputy defence ministerial level.

The Chairwoman affirmed that Vietnam is willing to share information and strengthen coordination with Indonesia and other nations to prevent terrorism and maintain peace and stability in the region for common development.

She hoped Indonesia will continue promoting its crucial role in ASEAN and the world to strengthen intra-bloc solidarity in the East Sea issue to maintain peace, stability and development in the region.

For his part, Oesman Sapta said Indonesia wants to share experience with Vietnam in law making.

He agreed to increase delegation exchanges in the coming time to share information in parliamentary activities and step up coordination at international parliamentary forums.

He also took note of the host’s proposal on pushing forward with negotiation on the delimitation of the exclusive economic zone in the water areas where Indonesia and Vietnam delimited the continental shelf in 2003, and on addressing fishermen-related issues based on the humanitarian spirit and the bilateral strategic partnership.-VNA