Hanoi (VNA)൲ – Vietnam and Poland should continue expanding cooperation in fields of their strength and those they have demand for like tourism, education, food processing, and climate change response, as they have yet to fully tap their cooperation potential.

The suggestion was made by National Assembly Vice Chairman Uong Chu Luu at his meetings with Polish Deputy Marshal of the Sejm (lower house) Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska, Deputy Marshal of the Senate Adam Bielan, Chairman of the Sejm’s Foreign Affairs Committee Grzegorz Schetyna, and Deputy Chairman of the Senate’s Foreign and European Union Affairs Ryszard Majer, among others. Luu affirmed that the Vietnamese State, National Assembly and people continually attach importance to maintaining and developing the multi-faceted cooperation with Poland. He and Polish parliament leaders agreed that Vietnam and Poland have seen fine development in bilateral relations over the past years, especially in trade and investment. Poland is currently Vietnam’s leading trade partner in Central and Eastern Europe with two-way trade reaching 761 million USD last year. The Vietnamese official asked Poland, as an active member of the European Union, to maintain support for intensifying Vietnam-EU relations, including the early ratification of the EU-Vietnam free trade agreement, and encouraging the EU to soon recognise Vietnam’s market economy status. These proposals were accepted by Polish parliament leaders. Regarding the East Sea issue, both sides agreed that all disputes should be addressed by peaceful means, on the basis of international law. They reached a consensus that growing parliamentary cooperation has contributed importantly to fostering the two countries’ bilateral relations, meeting their people’s aspirations and interests. The hosts expressed their hope for continued collaboration between the two parliaments. Both hosts and guest vowed to intensify delegation exchanges and the sharing of experience in legislative affairs and supervisions over law making during the integration process. The two legislative bodies should maintain close coordination at multi-lateral forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership (ASEP) Meeting. NA Vice Chairman Luu thanked the Polish Parliament and Government for creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community in the country to stabilise their lives. He added that the Vietnamese community continues to help tighten the bilateral friendship and boost bilateral trade and economic ties. Within his working visit to Poland from June 20-25, Luu also had meetings with Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Ministry Joanna Wronecka and Under-Secretary of State at the Justice Ministry Lukasz Piebiak, during which they agreed to strengthen cooperation in the diplomatic and judicial areas.-VNA