National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam successfully wrapped up their official visit to the Philippines, creating a new impetus for the strategic partnership between the Philippines and Vietnam to develop effectively and substantively in all fields.
National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam successfully wrapped up their official visit to the Philippines, creating a new impetus for the strategic partnership between the Philippines and Vietnam to develop effectively and substantively in all fields.
The trip, from November 23 to 25, is the first official visit to the country in 16 years by a key leader of Vietnam in 2022 and by an NA chairperson of Vietnam. NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue is also one of the first foreign parliamentary leaders to visit the Philippines after the country successfully held their general elections in May 2022 and elected new leaders to its House of Representatives and Senate in July.
On November 24, NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue met with the president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. and the vice president of the Philippines Sara Duterte during which they agreed to strengthen ties across all areas of the Party, government, parliament and people-for-people exchanges.
The senate of the Philippines passed a resolution on further strengthening the Philippines-Vietnam parliamentary relationship. The resolution affirms that the Philippine Senate highly values the Vietnamese National Assembly's strengthening of relations with its Philippine counterpart. It aims to establish closer parliamentary ties between the two nations, enhancing bilateral political, economic and cultural cooperation, developing and strengthening their participation and cooperation in key areas, promoting existing bilateral mechanisms, implementing signed agreements and finding new ways to deepen cooperation between the two parliaments.
The resolution affirms that strengthening ties between the two legislative bodies is a historic event in the relationship between the two parliaments. Photo: VNA
The two countries agreed to continuously maintain the exchange of delegations between the two legislative bodies, and the experience sharing between the committees on legislative and supervision works and enhance consultation, coordination and mutual support at multilateral cooperation mechanisms.
The Philippine president thanked Vietnam for always being a stable rice supplier for his country to help it ensure food security and expressing his hope that more products of the Philippines will be exported to Vietnam to keep a trade balance. The Philippine president thanked Vietnam for always being a stable rice supplier for his country to help it ensure food security and expressing his hope that more products of the Philippines will be exported to Vietnam to keep a trade balance.
NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue on November 24 reiterated the goal of lifting two-way trade between Vietnam and the Philippines to 10 billion USD and to pursue a more balanced manner by 2026 when they celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties.
NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue addresses the Vietnam-Philippines Investment-Trade Forum. Photo: Doan Tan/VNA
Addressing theVietnam-Philippines Investment-Trade Forum, Hue said that the two countries share similar strategic benefit values, withtwo-way trade hitting 7 billion US dollars. Vietnam will continue to perform well in farm produce trade, ensuring a high and stable export of rice at reasonable prices while staying ready to import products of the Philippines.
For multilateral cooperation, the two sides emphasized the need to actively coordinate to strengthen ASEAN's solidarity, stance and central role in dealing with traditional and non-traditional security challenges, including maritime security, disaster prevention, and response to climate change.
Regarding the East Sea, the Vietnamese top legislator suggested the two countries uphold ASEAN's stance, effectively implement the Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and push towards concluding a Code of Conduct (COC) on the basis of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The trip to the Philippines by NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam is a vivid demonstration of the traditional and sound friendship between the two nations, including their legislative bodies, helping to strengthen political trust and promoting bilateral cooperation in the different fields of economy, trade - investment, health care, education training, and defense and security.