Top legislator affirms support for Vietnam-Indonesia relations

The National Assembly of Vietnam always supports the country’s friendship and strategic partnership with Indonesia – one important partner of Vietnam in ASEAN and the region, said NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.

NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (R) meets with Indonesian President Joko Widodo. (Photo: VNA)

At a meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Hanoi on September 12, Ngan suggested the parliaments of Vietnam and Indonesia coordinate closely in supervising and accelerating the implementation of agreements signed between the two nations, and actively build and promulgate legal documents to create favourable and stable legal foundations for bilateral cooperation.

The NA Chairwoman recalled the good outcomes reached during the Vietnam visit by the Chairman of the People’s Consultative Assembly of Indonesia in 2014 and the trip by the Speaker of the Regional Representative Council to attend the 26th annual Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF-26) in Hanoi in January 2018.

The two leaders expressed their pleasure at the fruitful development of relations between the Vietnamese and Indonesian parliaments both bilaterally and multilaterally. They agreed to continue maintaining the exchange of visits by leaders of the parliaments and its committees in a bid to enhance political ties and mutual understanding.

Ngan warmly welcomed Widodo’s first state visit to Vietnam, believing that it would make an important contribution to strengthening and further promoting the traditional friendship and strategic partnership between the two countries.

Widodo thanked leaders and people of Vietnam for their sympathy with the Indonesian people over huge losses caused by a series of recent earthquakes.

Both leaders held that the establishment of the strategic partnership in 2013 opened up a new, more comprehensive, reliable and profound chapter in bilateral relations. They agreed to further promote cultural and sport exchange activities, cooperation among localities and tourism cooperation to enhance people’s understanding and awareness about Vietnam-Indonesia ties, towards the 10th founding anniversary of the strategic partnership in 2023.

Widodo promised to urge the People’s Representative Council to soon establish an Indonesia-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians Group, thus creating another bridge for cooperative activities between the two parliaments. The Regional Representative Council of Indonesia will consider signing a cooperative agreement with the Vietnamese NA similar to that with the People’s Representative Council, he said.

Discussing regional and international issues of mutual concern, the two leaders agreed to continue coordinating together, especially at multilateral parliamentary forums, and further promote the ASEAN’s centrality in regional matters, including the East Sean issue, helping to create a peaceful, stable and cooperative environment in the region./.

VNF/VNA