Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam always treasures and wants to promote its traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation with Poland, one of its prioritised partners in CentralEastern Europe, Vice Chairman of the NationalAssembly (NA) Nguyen Duc Hai said while receiving Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Zbigniew Rau in Hanoi on March 17.

Welcoming the Polish official’s visit, Haiaffirmed that the Vietnamese NA always supports the comprehensive cooperation between the two governments.

The two sides shared delight at the growingpartnership between the two countries, with many delegations exchanged, including high-level ones.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted delegation exchanges between the twocountries in recent years, the two sides should promptly resume the exchange of delegations,especially at high level ones, to further beef up collaboration in potentialsectors, Hai said.

The NA Vice Chairman thanked the Government and parliament of Poland for donating 1.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine and 8 tonnes of medicalequipment worth about 4 million USD to Vietnam in the hardest time to help thecountry overcome the pandemic.

Hai also thanked the Government and peopleof Poland for receiving, assisting and providing temporary shelters and necessities for thousands of Vietnamese citizens fleeing from Ukraine.

The two sides agreed that bilateral economic and tradecooperation has been expanded, with Poland being the largest trade partner ofVietnam in Central Eastern Europe for many years. Despite COVID-19 impacts,two-way trade still reached more than 2.58 billion USD in 2021 and 2022, theynoted.

Highly valuing Poland’s support for the signing of the EU-Vietnam Free TradeAgreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA),the Vietnamese leader suggested the Polish parliament soon ratify the EVIPA, enabling the two countries tooptimise benefits from the deal and promote bilateral trade and investmentcollaboration.

Rau said that Vietnam is the biggesteconomic partner of Poland in Southeast Asia, and the potential for stronger cooperation remains huge.

The Polish minister expressed his hope to continue receiving support from the Vietnamese NA in strengthening economic relations between the two nations,especially in high technology.

Hai proposed Poland urge the European Commission (EC) to remove its “yellow card” warning against Vietnameseseafood exports, taking Vietnam’s efforts to fully implement the EC’s recommendationson sustainable fishery development and benefits of Polish and EU consumers into consideration.

Both sides also discussed cooperation ineducation-training, science-technology, finance and banking. Rau said that Poland hopes to work moreclosely with Vietnam in education-training and receive more Vietnamesestudents.

Regarding the situation in the region and the East Sea issue, Hai and Rauunderlined the significance of ensuring security, safetyand freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea as well as settling disputes throughpeaceful measures in line with international law, especially the 1982 UN Conventionon the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). This is the common interest of allcountries in the international community, which contributes to maintaining apeaceful and stable environment for development in the region and the world,they said.

On parliamentary cooperation, the two officials noted with pleasure the fruitful development of relations between the two legislatures, and expressed their hope to further bolster the bilateralpartnership in the coming time./.