High hopes on breakthroughs in Vietnam-Thailand relations

This statement was made by Vietnamese Ambassador to Thailand Phan Chi Thanh in a recent interview granted to VOV ahead of the top Vietnamese legislator’s visit.

NA Chairman Hue will lead a high-ranking NA delegation to pay an official visit to Thailand from December 7 to December 10 following an invitation by President of the Thai NA Wan Muhamad Noor Matha

The trip takes place amid Thailand successfully organising parliamentary elections in May and establishing a new Government.

In visiting the Thailand, he will become the first head of a foreign legislative body to visit the neighbouring country during its new NA term. 2023 is also the year in which the 10th anniversary of the strategic partnership between Vietnam and Thailand will be celebrated, the Vietnamese diplomat said.

As planned, NA Chairman Hue will, on behalf of the Party and State leaders, hold talks with Thailand's highest-ranking leaders, meet with parliamentarians, politicians, scholars, and business representatives, as well as visiting Udon Thani province where the largest number of Vietnamese expatriates live.

Therefore, the visit holds great significance and can be considered an important event for the anniversary of the Vietnam - Thailand Strategic Partnership 2023, he added.

In recent years, joint relations have been consolidated and developed rapidly and practically across multiple fields, especially in terms of parliamentary and inter-parliamentary co-operation.

The official visit affirms the support of the two countries' senior leaders for the Action Program to implement the Vietnam-Thailand Enhanced Strategic Partnership in the 2022 to 2027 period, including high-level delegation exchanges between the two legislatures and closer ties between the two countries at multilateral and regional forums such as the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF), Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA).

According to information given by the Ambassador, the Thai NA has prepared a very thoughtful and respectful visit for the Vietnamese delegation with diverse activities, talks and meetings between the Vietnamese NA leader and Thai senior leader. This shows that they treasure the sound friendship and co-operation that exists between the two countries.

Thai leaders highly appreciate Vietnamese potential, as well as its role and international position, considering the nation to be their most important partner in the region and looking forward to continuing to further deepen the comprehensive friendship and co-operation between the two countries.

“Vietnam and Thailand play an important role in ASEAN. Amid a very complicated world situation, Vietnam and Thailand must strengthen solidarity and cooperation at all levels.

The prospect of what direction the two countries' relations will develop in the coming time and what role it will play in solving international and regional problems is the question Thai politicians, scholars, and researchers are waiting for in the speech of NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand's leading policy research facility,” the diplomat said.

The Thai business sector continues to view the contry as a key market and an attractive destination for investment, with Thai groups continuing to intensify strong investment in the Vietnamese market.

​The Vietnamese NA plays an important role in promulgating laws and policies aimed at promoting investment and trade co-operation with foreign countries, therefore, Thai businesses have high expectations for the meeting between the Vietnamese NA leader and businesses at the policy and law forum aimed at promoting Vietnam-Thailand economic, trade, and investment ties.

Regarding some major highlights marking the 10th anniversary of Vietnam-Thailand Strategic Partnership and now an Enhanced Strategic Partnership, and an assessment of the prospects of co-operative relations between the two countries in the time ahead, Ambassador Thanh said 2023 can be viewed as an important milestone for Vietnam-Thailand relations when the two countries celebrate 10 years of their strategic partnership with many exchange visits made by senior leaders.

Concerning the prospects of co-operative relations between the two countries moving forward, the Vietnamese diplomat said preparations for the upgrading of relations between both sides to a new level will create further potential and opportunities for both to bolster all-around collaboration and carry out joint activities regarding economics, trade, investment, and tourism, especially connecting road, rail, aviation and coastal traffic.

​The documents expected to be signed during the visit will devise a range of measures aimed at continuing augmenting parliamentary ties in a more effective and substantial manner, as well as discussing the framework for common co-operation in other fields, such as  exchanging high-level NA delegations, strengthening parliamentary exchanges and links between the two NA Secretariats. This will serve to enhance joint work in citizen protection and sharing experience in the law-making process and issues of shared concern, Ambassador Thanh added.