Hanoi (VNA) – The official visits to Singapore and Australia byNational Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan from November 26 to December 2are of significance, aiming to consolidate Vietnam’s strategic partnership withSingapore and its comprehensive partnership with Australia.

During the trip, Ngan is expected to discuss measures tostrengthen cooperation between the Vietnamese NA and the two countries’legislative bodies.

Vietnam and Singapore established their diplomatic ties onAugust 1, 1973. Since then, they have enjoyed development in bilateralrelations, especially in politics, economics, security, defence, education,health, culture and coordination at regional and international forums.

Since 1996, Singapore has been one of Vietnam’s largestpartners. Singapore is current the sixth largest trade partner of Vietnam whileVietnam is the 11th biggest trade partner of Singapore. Two-way trade reached7.1 billion USD last year.

Vietnam exports rice, aquatic products, coffee, pepper,vegetables and crude oil to Singapore, while importing oil and gas, computer,electronic products, and mobile phones from the country.

As of September, Singapore ranked third out of the 126nations and territories investing in Vietnam, with 1,927 projects worth 41.5billion USD. Meanwhile, Vietnam poured 241 million USD into 65 projects inSingapore.

Over the past years, the relations between the twolegislative bodies have grown well. They have maintained the regular exchangeof high-level delegations as well as close coordination at the Inter-ParliamentaryUnion, Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum, and ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly.

Meanwhile, Vietnam and Australia have enjoyed growingpartnership. Australia is Vietnam’s eighth biggest trade partner with bilateraltrade exceeding 5 billion USD in 2016.

Australia is the 19th largest investor of Vietnam with 378projects worth 1.7 billion USD, while Vietnam is running 17 investment projectsworth 137 million USD .

Australia is also among Vietnam’s largest ODA providers,with over 130 million AUD (99 million USD) per year during 2010-2015.

Vietnam’s NA first signed a cooperation agreement with the AustralianHouse of Representatives in 2008 on the occasion of then NA Chairman Nguyen PhuTrong’s official visit to Australia.

During the Vietnam visit by then Speaker of the House ofRepresentatives Anna Burke in 2013, a cooperative agreement between theVietnamese legislature and Australia’s Parliament was inked.

These documents have been served as a legal foundation topromote and deepen bilateral cooperation between the two legislativebodies.-VNA