Vietnam – Philippines strategic partnership develops well, says Senate President
VOV.VN - Senate president Juan Miguel Zubiri on November 23 welcomed Vietnamese National Assembly chairman Vuong Dinh Hue on his current visit, which he said would help strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries.
Receiving the Vietnamese leader in Manila, Zubiri noted Vietnam is the Philippines’ only strategic partner in ASEAN. He congratulated Vietnam on important achievements it has recorded in COVID-19 control and socio-economic recovery, resulting in high growth rate and inflation under control.
Hue for his part highly appreciated both houses of the Congress of the Philippines approving a resolution to strengthen relation with Vietnam, saying this is a historic event in the relationship between the two countries and two legislatures.
Both host and guest said that trade cooperation is currently a bright spot in bilateral relations, and they agreed to further increase cooperation in the fields of defense-security, investment, rice trading, agriculture, and maritime security cooperation.
Zubiri thanked Vietnam for supplying rice to the Philippines, helping it ensure food security, and hoped the Philippines would export more products to Vietnam to balance bilateral trade in the context that the former is slipping into a trade deficit with Vietnam.
The two leaders lauded cooperation between the legislative bodies of the two countries both bilaterally and multilaterally. They affirmed the central role of parliamentary cooperation in enhancing bilateral and multilateral relations between countries.
They therefore agreed to maintain the exchange of reciprocal visits and consultations between the two legislative bodies in order to share experience in legislation, supervision and decision making, while facilitating coordination and support in multilateral cooperation mechanisms.
The two sides emphasized the need to strengthen ASEAN’s solidarity, stance and central role in handling current traditional and non-traditional security challenges, including maritime security, defense – security, natural disasters prevention, and climate change response.
Regarding the East Sea issue, the Vietnamese National Assembly leader suggested that the two countries should uphold ASEAN’s stance, effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and work towards completing the Code of Conduct (DOC) in the regional waters on the basis of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
