New Delhi (VNA) – Speaker of India’s Lower HouseSumitra Mahajan and visiting National Assembly (NA) Chairwoman Nguyen Thi KimNgan agreed on the need to enhance parliamentary relations during their talksat the Indian parliament’s headquarters in New Delhi on late December 9.

They said the enhancement can be made throughincreasing exchanges in lawmaking and between parliamentary friendship groupsand parliamentary agencies.

Chairwoman Ngan, who is on an official visit toIndia, congratulated India on immense development achievements, affirming thatVietnam always considers this country as a traditional and trustworthy friend.She also highly valued recent important strides in the two countries’multifaceted cooperation.

She lauded growing ties between theirlegislative bodies, noting that the Vietnamese NA wants to bolster bilateralconnections with its Indian counterpart at regional and international forums.

Appreciating the Indian parliament’s support tothe time-honoured friendship with Vietnam over the past years, she welcomed thetwo legislatures’ signing of a cooperation agreement which will serve as animportant legal framework for bilateral cooperation.

Both sides should step up coordination insupervising and promoting the effective implementation of inked high-levelagreements, especially on the pillars of politics, economics, defence-security,trade-investment, science-technology, and culture-education.

They need to foster visits at high levels, andbetween parliamentary agencies, parliamentary friendship groups, andparliamentarians to deepen mutual trust and understanding while exchanginglawmaking and supervision experience, Ngan said.

She also asked them to continue bringing intoplay the consultation mechanism and working closely at multilateral forums suchas the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Asia-Europe Parliamentary PartnershipMeeting.

On this occasion, she invited Speaker of India’sLower House Sumitra Mahajan to re-visit Vietnam in the near future.

For her part, Mahajan described Ngan’s visit assignificant amidst their countries are preparing to celebrate 45 years ofdiplomatic relations and 10 years of the strategic partnership. She alsocongratulated her guest on her election as the first NA Chairwoman of Vietnam.

She noted that Vietnam and India boasttime-tested relations, rejoicing at thriving bilateral ties. The countriesshare many common values and cultural similarities and will remain each other’spartners in the region and at international forums.

Echoing Ngan’s view, she said economic and tradelinks between their nations can develop more strongly. They can also expandpartnerships in many other spheres such as education, culture and archaeology.

At the talks, Mahajan affirmed India’s supportfor Vietnam’s viewpoints on the East Sea issues, underlining that all countriesin the region need to adhere to the United Nations Convention on the Law of theSea and maintain peace and stability in the East Sea.

Speaking highly of the Southeast Asian nation’sdevelopment attainments in a short period of time, she said she is willing to re-visitVietnam – the country of late President Ho Chi Minh, whom the Indian peoplerespect.

Following the talks, Chairwoman Ngan and SpeakerMahajan witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement between the VietnameseNA and India’s Lower House, and an agreement on cooperation in peaceful use ofatomic energy between the two governments.

A memorandum of understanding between theVietnam Atomic Energy Institute and India’s Global Centre for Nuclear EnergyPartnership, and another on opening a Vietnam-India air route between VietjetAir and Indian Air were also inked in their presence.

Also on December 9, the top legislator ofVietnam met with Indian Vice President and Chairman of the Senate MohammadHamid Ansari at the latter’s residence.

She said the close-knit relationship betweenVietnam and India was founded by President Ho Chi Minh and Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru. It has been nurtured by the countries’ following leaders andpeoples.

Appreciating the Indian Senate’s support for thecountry’s traditional amity and strategic partnership, which was elevated to acomprehensive strategic partnership last September, with Vietnam, shehighlighted the progress in their legislative bodies.

The Vietnamese NA wants to strengthen bilateralconnections and closely cooperate with the Indian parliament at regional andinternational forums, she said, calling on both sides to beef up affiliation inrealising reached high-level agreements, exchanging delegations, and promotingcoordination at multilateral forums.

Meanwhile, Ansari highlighted the longstandingand strong foundation of the Indian-Vietnamese ties, valuing Vietnam’sdevelopment accomplishments and progress in ensuring human rights.

India always attaches importance to its relationswith ASEAN member nations and its Government is pushing forward with the “ActEast” policy, in which Vietnam is an important pillar, he noted.

It supports peace to be kept between countriesin the region and around the world, along with the settlement of internationaldisputes, including the East Sea issues, by peaceful means on the basis of theUN Charter and international law, he added.

Agreeing on the host’s opinions, the visitingleader said Vietnam advocates India’s “Act East” policy and increasing presencein and connectivity with Southeast Asia and backs India in a bid to win a deservingposition in the global arena.

Vietnam also supports India’s candidacy for apermanent membership in the UN Security Council when this Council admits morepermanent members, as well as its participation in the Asia-Pacific EconomicCooperation (APEC) forum when APEC removes the suspension of accepting newmembers with the APEC member economies’ consent, Ngan said.-VNA