Deepening Vietnam - US relations

Early this morning, Vietnam time (September 6), National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung led a high-ranking delegation of the National Assembly of Vietnam to Washington DC for an official visit to the United States at the invitation of the Honorary President of the US Senate, Mr. Patrick Leahy; Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Mr. John Boehner and Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Senator John McCain.

National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung talks with staff of the Vietnamese Embassy in the United States.

Immediately after arriving in Washington DC, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung and the high-ranking delegation of our National Assembly visited and talked with officials and staff of the Vietnamese Embassy in the United States.

Reporting to the National Assembly Chairman and the Delegation, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Vietnam to the United States of America Pham Quang Vinh said that in recent times, especially in the efforts to normalize relations, as well as the process of promoting relations between Vietnam and the United States, the parliamentary diplomatic relations between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the US Congress have played a particularly important role; it is a diplomatic channel of great significance in bringing the relations between the two countries increasingly deeper, more practical and more effective.

With many exchanges of delegations at all levels, diplomatic relations between the two countries' National Assemblies are also a practical forum to strengthen friendship and jointly resolve economic, social and diplomatic issues of mutual concern.

Visiting the Embassy, ​​the National Assembly Chairman affirmed that following the success of the official visit to the United States by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the purpose of this visit to the United States by the high-ranking delegation of our National Assembly is to deepen and enrich the comprehensive partnership between the two countries; further enhance the cooperative relationship between the two National Assemblies to meet the aspirations of the people of the two countries.

In addition, the event of the High-Level Delegation of the National Assembly of Vietnam going to the United States to attend the 4th World Summit of Speakers of Parliaments also affirmed the active, responsible and effective participation of the National Assembly and the State of Vietnam, contributing to the building and implementation of the United Nations' sustainable development goals.

National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung also said that this Summit of Speakers of Parliaments of countries around the world is where parliaments around the world review the commitments they have made and reaffirm those commitments with new contents suitable to the international situation.

Parliaments commit to making every effort to translate the Sustainable Development Goals into national targets, to internalize them into legislation and to allocate budgets to ensure their implementation, taking into account national characteristics.

Reviewing important milestones in the history of bilateral relations, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung emphasized that the most important areas of cooperation between Vietnam and the United States are politics, diplomacy, economics, trade, science and technology, education and training, and defense and security, in line with the interests of the people of the two countries for peace and stability in the region and the world.

At the meeting, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung also informed about the activities of the Vietnamese National Assembly, inheriting the achievements of previous terms with many comprehensive and practical innovations and increasingly better performing its function as a representative of the people.

In March this year, for the first time, the Vietnamese National Assembly successfully organized the 132nd IPU General Assembly in Hanoi, adopting the "Hanoi Declaration" on "Sustainable Development Goals: Turning Words into Actions" as positive contributions to the 4th World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments and the United Nations Summit in late September 2015.

National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung warmly commended the efforts of the staff of the Embassy and permanent Vietnamese agencies in the United States; hoped that the collective of Vietnamese staff in the United States would continue to strive to fulfill the foreign affairs tasks assigned by the Party and State; continue to promote and deepen the Vietnam-US relationship, and continuously foster the friendship between the people of the two countries.

* As planned, during the visit to Washington, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung and the National Assembly delegation will have meetings with the Honorary President of the US Senate Patrick Leahy, Speaker of the US House of Representatives John Boehner and Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Senator John McCain; meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry and visit the hometown of the late President George Washington, visit the US History Museum, the National Archives Museum, visit the Lincoln Memorial, and the Martin Luther King Memorial. The delegation will also attend an international conference organized by the World Bank.

According to VNA/VOV