NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue (R) and Speaker of the Indonesian People's Representative Council Puan Maharani (Photo: VNA)

Vienna (VNA) – National Assembly Chairman VuongDinh Hue met Speaker of the Indonesian People'sRepresentative Council (Lower House) Puan Maharani inVienna, Austria on September 6 (local time), on the occasion of his attendanceat the fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament (WCSP5).

Both sides expressed their satisfaction about the developmentof bilateral ties over the past 65 years, especially since the upgrading of theirrelationship to strategic partnership level in 2013.

They agreed to further strengthen political trust, maintainhigh-level exchanges, both online and offline, including facilitating theexchange of delegations via parliamentary channels, working closely together atthe Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the Asia-PacificParliamentary Forum (APPF) and the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly(AIPA), and realising the cooperation agreement between the Vietnameselegislature and Indonesian Lower House.

The twosides shared the view that each country’s legislature needs to raise voice atregional and global forums to facilitate countries’ fair, open and transparent accessto vaccines in parallel with vaccine research and production.

ChairmanHue said despite difficulties caused by the pandemic, two-way trade still hit8.2 billion USD last year, closer to the 10 billion USD mark. In the spirit ofstrategic partnership, he suggested both sides coordinate in dealing with issues of sharedconcern such as trade and Indonesia create favourable conditions forVietnam to export farm produce and fruit, offer humane treatment toVietnamese fishermen, and step up negotiations on demarcation of economicexclusive zones.

On regional and global issues, the Vietnamese leaderunderscored ASEAN’s central role in maintaining peace, stability, security,maritime and aviation safety and freedom. He called for soon building apractical and effective Code of Conduct in the East Sea in line withinternational law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law ofthe Sea.

Amidchallenges caused by the pandemic, Vietnam and Indonesia need to enhancecooperation, particularly within the ASEAN-AIPA framework, he said, adding that parliamentsmust improve their guiding roles in fighting COVID-19 and working closely togetherto recover the economy.

Hecongratulated Indonesia on taking the role as Chair of G20 Summit next year andhoped that ASEAN member states could attend the important event.

Maharani, for her part, affirmed that the Indonesian LowerHouse is ready to cooperate with the Vietnamese NA, and raise a voice to theIndonesian Government to increase joint work with Vietnam, towards curbing thepandemic and boosting recovery post-pan🧔demic./.