Vice Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam works in India

During her visit to India from February 20-25, on the morning of February 21, Party Central Committee Secretary, Vice President of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and members of the Vietnamese delegation witnessed Indian President Panab Mukherjee deliver the opening speech at the budget discussion session of the Indian Parliament.

The delegation laid flowers at the grave of Mahatma Gandhi.
(Photo: Minh Ly-Tien Hien/Vietnam+)

The delegation also paid a courtesy call to Speaker of the House of Representatives Meira Kumar and President of the Senate Hamid Ansari. Ms. Meira Kumar and Mr. Ansari warmly received Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and the Vietnamese delegation.

Speaking at the reception, Ms. Meira Kumar and Mr. Ansari expressed their admiration for the achievements that Vietnam has made in the reform process. The leaders of the Indian Senate and the House of Representatives assessed that in recent times, through visits by high-ranking leaders, the relationship between the two countries has been increasingly consolidated and strengthened.

Vietnam holds a very important position in India’s “Look East” policy. India is pleased that the two countries have established a Joint Parliamentary Friendship Group.

Regarding trade, in 2012, two-way trade between Vietnam and India reached nearly 4 billion USD and is aiming to increase to 7 billion USD by 2015. The President of the Senate and the House of Representatives of India hopes that the two sides will continue to exchange visits by leaders of the National Assembly as well as specialized committees of the National Assembly.

Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan expressed her honor to visit India for the first time and witness with her own eyes the proud achievements of the beautiful and culturally rich country of India.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan believes that India's growth is an important factor for peace, stability and prosperous development in the region and the world; congratulated India on successfully organizing the Summit to celebrate 20 years of India-ASEAN dialogue and the decision to upgrade relations to a strategic partnership.

She believes that this relationship will be increasingly strengthened and effective, meeting the practical interests of both sides and contributing to maintaining peace, stability and development in the region and the world.

Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan also gave an overview of the recent situation in Vietnam and expressed some opinions on the relationship between the two countries and the two National Assemblies.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan emphasized that Vietnam and India have a long-standing traditional friendship, which was founded by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and President Ho Chi Minh and built and nurtured by generations of leaders and people of the two countries. This relationship is of special importance in maintaining peace, stability and sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the interests of the two countries.

The Vietnamese people always respect and appreciate the effective assistance and cooperation that India has been providing to Vietnam. Vietnam always wishes to increase and exchange high-level delegations and all-level delegations with India.

Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan also expressed her delight that the Vietnam-India Friendship Year 2012, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of full diplomatic relations and the 5th anniversary of the establishment of strategic partnership, was successfully organized by the two sides with many rich activities in politics, economics, culture, etc., thereby contributing to further tightening the good traditional friendship between the two countries.

To close the Year of Friendship, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh paid an official visit to India (January 7-10) and Indian Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari paid an official visit to Vietnam (January 14-17).

Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan was also pleased to see that the economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries in recent times, especially since the two governments officially announced the establishment of a strategic partnership in July 2007, has had positive developments.

In 2012, although both countries were affected by the global financial crisis and economic recession, bilateral trade turnover reached nearly 4 billion USD.

The two sides agreed to strive for two-way trade to reach 7 billion USD by 2015. Vietnam always creates favorable conditions for large Indian economic groups to cooperate in business and investment in Vietnam.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan thanked India for supporting Vietnam's stance on resolving disputes between parties in the East Sea through peaceful negotiations, on the basis of international law (UNCLOS 1982, DOC) and the need to ensure freedom of navigation and access to resources in the East Sea in accordance with the principles of international law; she reiterated Vietnam's consistent stance in supporting India to become a permanent member of the expanded United Nations Security Council.

She suggested that in the coming time, the two sides should continue to promote the exchange of delegations at all levels to consult and learn from experiences in legislative and supervisory activities, and enhance exchanges between friendship parliamentary groups and parliamentarians to create mutual understanding, thereby contributing to supporting the two governments in implementing cooperation programs and promoting bilateral relations in all fields.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan proposed that the two countries' National Assemblies continue to cooperate and coordinate closely and effectively at international and regional inter-parliamentary forums in the spirit of mutual support and harmonious coordination of regional and global issues, especially within the framework of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (AIPA); hoping that the Indian Parliament will support Vietnam's proposal to host the 132nd IPU General Assembly (to be held in 2015), coordinate and send delegates to participate in inter-parliamentary activities that the Vietnamese National Assembly plans to host.

Also on February 21, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and members of the Vietnamese delegation laid flowers at the tomb of Mahatma Gandhi in the capital New Delhi, signed the guest book and presented souvenirs to the tomb management board./.

According to (vietnam+) - LT