Geneva (VNA) – National AssemblyChairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan met with Speaker of Indonesia’s House ofRepresentatives Bambang Soesatyo on the sidelines of the 138th Inter-ParliamentaryUnion Assembly (IPU-138) in Geneva, Switzerland, on March 24 afternoon (localtime).

The Vietnamese toplegislator used the occasion to thank the Indonesian parliamentary delegation for attending the 26th AnnualMeeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF-26), which took place in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoiin January 2018.

She said theVietnam-Indonesia strategic partnership has served practical interests of their people,while contributing to peace, stability and development in the region, andconnecting country members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN).

NA Chairwoman Ngan applaudedaffiliation in national defence-security between Vietnam and Indonesia, as wellas their efforts to push the signing of an agreement on joint patrol and establishment of a hotline between the two countries’ naval forces and a policy dialogue mechanism atthe deputy defence ministerial level.

In reply, Bambang Soesatyo suggested the Vietnamese and Indonesianlegislative bodies intensify the exchange of all-level delegations andsupervise the implementation of signed agreements.

He notedhis hope for the enhanced legislative ties, contributing to boosting theIndonesia-Vietnam relationship.

The Speakerthanked Vietnam for its support to Indonesia to become a non-permanent memberof the UN Security Council for 2019-2020, and emphasised that Indonesia backsVietnam’s bid to run for a non-permanent seat in the council for 2020-2021.

In thesphere of economy, the Speaker said Indonesia calls for Vietnamese investment inoil and gas exploration and exploitation, expressing his wish that Vietnam willbe one of the big trade partners of Indonesia.

His viewwas echoed by NA Chairwoman Ngan, who said that Vietnam and Indonesia havesubstantial potential for cooperation in trade and investment, urging the twocountries to raise bilateral trade to 10 billion USD in the time ahead.

TheVietnamese top legislator voiced her hope that the Speaker will urge competent Indonesianagencies to seek measures to soon end negotiations on demarcation of exclusive economic zones in the waters where the two sides delimited the continentalshelf boundary in 2003 and that the two sides will soon sign a memorandum ofunderstanding on cooperation in seafood and fisheries, and set up a hotline againstillegal fishing.

LaudingIndonesia’s coordination in repatriating Vietnamese fishermen, NAChairwoman Ngan proposed the two sides handle the issue in the humanitarianspirit, and in line with the strategic partnership as well as their ASEANmembership.

Sheappealed to the two countries to continue to work closely with each otherand with other ASEAN members in order to intensify intra-bloc cooperation andsolidarity and maintain peace, stability and cooperation in the region, whilejoining hands with other nations in settling the East Sea issue by peacefulmeasure and on the basis of regulations of international law, including the1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS), full andeffective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea(DOC) toward the early conclusion of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

Regardingbilateral legislative ties, the NA Chairwoman suggested the two sides step updelegation exchange, with attention paid to cooperation between specialisedcommittees through information and experience sharing, as well as coordinationat international parliamentary forums, especially the IPU and APPF.

She invitedSpeaker Bambang Soesatyo to visit Vietnam at an early date.

The sameday, NA Chairwoman Ngan had a meeting with the Vietnamese mission in Geneva,the staff of the Vietnamese Embassy and representatives of the Vietnamesecommunity in Switzerland. -VNA