The Hague (VNA) - Chairwoman of theNational Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan has expected that her ongoing officialvisit to the Netherlands will further deepen the friendship and cooperation betweenVietnam and the European country in general and the Dutch parliament inparticular.

Duringher talks with President of the Senate of the Netherlands Ankie Broekers-Knolin The Hague on March 27, Chairwoman Ngan expressed her hope that the visitwill open up new cooperation prospects in bilateral relations as well as cooperativeties between Vietnam, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) andthe European Union (EU), especially when Vietnam and the Netherlands are celebratingthe 45th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties.

[🔜Vietnam’s top legislator holds talks with speaker of Dutch lower house]

Broekers-Knol said the top Vietnameselegislator’s visit followed the official visit to the Netherlands by PrimeMinister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in July 2017, during which she highly valued Vietnam’ssuccessful hosting of the 132nd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly (IPU-132)and relevant events.

The current visit by NA Chairwoman Ngan has createdan opportunity for the two sides to share legislative experience and promoteparliamentary ties, the Senate President said.

While informing the outcomes of her earliertalks with Speaker of the House of Representatives Khadija Arib, ChairwomanNgan said the two sides exchanged views on a lot of issues and agreed to stepup cooperation in specific realms.

The chairwoman also highlighted social-economicdevelopment achievements that Vietnam has gained in 2017, especially since thecountry joined ASEAN in 1995.

The host and guest expressed their pleasure atthe growing friendship and cooperation in all spheres over the past 45 years aswell as the enhanced mutual political trust between Vietnam and theNetherlands.

Ngan said Vietnam set up the Vietnam-NetherlandsCooperation and Friendship Association for the 2013-2018 tenure, which has contributedto increasing people-to-people exchanges, hoping that the Netherlands will soonestablish a similar association to promote mutual understanding and friendship.

The top legislators held that economic, tradeand investment relations between Vietnam and the Netherlands are growing fruitfullyover the past few years.

TheVietnamese Party and State highly evaluated the strategic partnership agreementon climate change adaptation and water management signed in 2010 and thestrategic partnership agreement on sustainable agriculture and food securitysealed in 2014 between Vietnam and the Netherlands, Ngan said, describing themas effective cooperation models that have contributed to sustainabledevelopment in Vietnam.

She recognised and spoke highly of theNetherlands’s assistance in building the Mekong Delta Plan (MDP) to cope withclimate change and improve water management.

Vietnam is particularly interested inenvironmental issues and hi-tech agriculture development, which are thestrengths of the Netherlands, and hopes the European country will continuecooperating and sharing experience with Vietnam in the fields, Ngan said.

Vietnam and the Netherlands are also expected tostrengthen collaboration in such potential areas as tourism, transport,education-training, and culture, Ngan said, urging the two nations to sign abilateral tourism cooperation agreement to make a legal foundation for theestablishment and implementation of specific cooperation programmes.

The two leaders applauded cooperative ties betweenVietnamese and Dutch localities, saying they have helped promote mutualunderstanding, friendship and cooperation between the Vietnamese and Dutch people.

Broekers-Knol said theNetherlands want to cooperate with Vietnam in various fields, particularly in responseto climate change and sea level rise, noting that her country created a perfectbreakwater system when sea level rise left critical impacts on the Netherlands70 years ago.

At the talks, the two leaders expressed their interest in high-tech agricultureand discussed measures to tackle global food security. The Vietnamese toplegislator briefed the host about Vietnam’s agricultural production and exportsin recent years.

Regarding bilateral legislative relations, the leaders held that cooperative tiesbetween the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Dutch Senate have been growingwell in recent years. In that spirit, Ngan suggested the two sides continue exchangingdelegations to increase mutual understanding and trust, improve the efficiencyof consultation mechanisms and closely cooperate at multilateral forums such asthe Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Asia-Europe ParliamentaryPartnership (ASEP).

They parliaments need to supervise the implementation of cooperation agreementsinked by the two governments while promoting information exchanges on parliamentaryactivities in each nation, Ngan said, recommending the establishment of friendshipparliamentary groups.


As maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of aviation andnavigation is the common benefit of the international community, including theNetherlands, Ngan hoped that the country will raise its voice to support theEast Sea issue, the peaceful settlement of disputes, and the strict observanceand enforcement of international law, especially the 1982 United NationsConvention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Declaration on the Conduct ofParties in the East Sea (DOC).

She took the occasion to thank the Netherlands for creating favourable conditionsfor the Vietnamese community, expecting that the Senate President will furthersupport Vietnamese nationals so that they can make contributions to the hostnation’s socio-economic development and multi-faceted cooperation between thetwo countries.

NA Chairwoman Ngan invited Senate President Broekers-Knol to pay an officialvisit to Vietnam at a convenient time to discuss more about issues of mutualconcern regarding cooperative relations between the two nations and the twoparliaments. The State President accepted the invitation with pleasure.-VNA