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| National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue (L) and President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos (Photo: VNA) |
Expressing his delight at visiting the Philippines for the first time, Chairman Hue hoped that under the leadership of the President, the Philippines will score more achievements in national development and improve its role and position in the region and the world.
He conveyed Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s regards and President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s invitation to the host President and his spouse to visit Vietnam.
After informing the host about the results of his talks with Speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives Martin Romualdez, Chairman Hue said the two countries should promote ties via the Party, State, National Assembly, Government and people-to-people channels.
Marcos said she believed the visit will be an important milestone to further tighten the bilateral strategic partnership as well as the collaboration between the two legislatures.
He thanked Vietnam for stable rice supply to help the Philippines ensure food security amid the global food security crisis.
The Vietnamese leader suggested the two nations expand coordination not only in economy, trade, investment, national defence-security, but also in agriculture, sci-tech, education and training, digital transformation, digital economy, climate change response, green and just energy transformation, tourism, people-to-people exchange and cyber security.
Two-way trade between the two countries hit a record high of 6.8 billion USD last year and nearly 6.6 billion USD in the first ten months of this year.
The host suggested facilitating visits at all levels to match the two countries’ cooperation potential. He also asked Vietnam to import more goods from the Philippines to achieve a more balanced trade.
Chairman Hue also took the occasion to ask the Philippines to continue with humanitarian treatment for Vietnamese fishermen in line with the spirit of friendship and cooperation in ASEAN, and make it easier for them to reunite with their families.
On multilateral cooperation, the two leaders spoke highly of close and effective liaisons between their countries at international organisations and forums.
The top Vietnamese legislator agreed with the host’s proposal to coordinate common stances regarding multilateral issues within the framework of the United Nations, ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
They pledged to share information, support each other and contribute to strengthening ASEAN's solidarity, voice and central role in common security issues in the region, including the East Sea.
The host President also affirmed that he will visit Vietnam soon./.