Top Vietnamese legislator’s visit to deepen strategic partnership with UK

NA Chairman Hue will lead a high-ranking delegation of the NA on an official visit to the UK from June 28 to June 30.

The NA’s Committee for External Relations said the visit comes following an invitation given by Lord Speaker of the House of Lords John McFall and Speaker of the House of Commons Linsay Hoyle.

According to Ambassador Long, the relationship between Vietnam and the UK is moving into its best ever development stage.

The visit by the leading Vietnamese legislator comes at a particularly crucial time for relations between the two countries as both sides prepare for activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties which will take place in 2023.

Furthermore, the UK has also been celebrating the Platinum Anniversary to mark the 70th year of Queen Elizabeth II's reign.

Recent years have seen both sides come together to sign a bilateral free trade agreement, with the UK also becoming a dialogue partner of ASEAN, with it also set to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The visit by the Vietnamese NA leader will primarily focus on promoting all six pillars of the Vietnam-UK strategic partnership, including political diplomacy, economy, trade and investment, education, defence-security, science and technology, as well as the Vietnamese community in the UK.

Regarding activities which will take place during the visit, the Vietnamese diplomat said the visit by NA Chairman Hue will include a range of event related to parliaments and governments, both nations’ economic ties, trade, investment, education, and community related activities.

According to the schedule, NA Chairman Hue will hold talks with both the Lord Speaker of the House of Lords and the Speaker of the House of Commons, in addition to attending forums on economic, trade, investment co-operation, education, and training with the participation of a large number of British partners.

He will also participate in a host of meetings and work event with leading partners, businesses, economic groups, financial institutions, and banks of the UK in London’s financial district, one of the largest financial institutions in the world.

The Vietnamese NA leader is set to meet with British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab in order to discuss issues on bilateral co-operation and will hold working sessions with several leading British ministers and politicians to bolster co-operation in areas such as security, services, economics, and education

As part of the occasion, the two sides will also compare notes on a number of important co-operation agreements such as a memorandum of understanding on anti-money laundering co-operation which is an important basis for strengthening ties in the financial and banking fields between the two countries.

NA Chairman Hue will also spend time meeting the Vietnamese community residing and working in the UK, as well as political and social organisations and British and traditional friends.

Along with the high-level activities of NA Chairman Hue, members of the high-level Vietnamese delegation will also hold working sessions and bilateral meetings with partners from the UK. Representatives of localities participating in the delegation will also hold talks and meetings in order to connect and co-operate with the Scottish region of the United Kingdom.

The parliaments of both sides have made strides in co-operation ties over recent times.

They have maintained delegation exchanges at all levels, including visits by Vietnam’s NA Chairman Nong Duc Manh in 1994, Nguyen Van An in March, 2005, and Nguyen Sinh Hung in December, 2011, along with the trip by Deputy Speaker of the UK House of Commons Eleanor Laing in October, 2016.

The two sides have also frequently held mutual visits between their parliaments’ committees as well as by the British All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Vietnam and the Vietnam - UK Parliamentary Friendship Group.

Most recently, an NA delegation led by Le Quang Huy, chairman of the Committee for Science, Technology and the Environment, attended the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)’s pre-COP26 parliamentary meeting and met with the head of the British parliamentary delegation. Back in October, 2020, the Communist Party of Vietnam and the APPG held the ever first virtual dialogue on co-operation for developing a green economy in the post-pandemic period.

Both sides have also maintained contact and consultations at multilateral parliamentary forums, particularly the IPU and the Asia - Europe Parliamentary Partnership (ASEP) meetings.

The fruitful co-operation ties that exist between the two parliaments is believed to be an important factor in reinforcing the joing strategic partnership.

Vu Hai Ha, chairman of the NA’s Committee for External Relations, said the visit by the high-ranking NA delegation led by NA Chairman Hue aims to continue implementing the foreign policy set at the 13th National Party Congress. This will seek to intensify bilateral ties, strengthen mutual trust with partner countries, and affirm the importance the nation places on the strategic partnership with the UK.

It also hopes to accelerate the implementation of the UK - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA), as well as creating a new impulse for the countries’ relations in politics, diplomacy, economics, trade, security, defence, education and training, climate change response, as well as other potential areas.

He added that as part of the visit, a forum on educational co-operation will also be held with the participation of leading universities, businesses, and organisations from both sides. This will contribute to bolstering collaboration in education and training, particularly in training high-quality human resources to help with Vietnamese development and international integration.

For his part, UK Ambassador to Vietnam Gareth Ward said the countries’ strategic partnership remains solid, with plenty of potential ahead to expand ties.

In short, the official visit to the UK by NA Chairman Hue will see a range of activities held covering various field, not only including activities in parliamentary co-operation. The visit will certainly made an important contribution to promoting the strong, effective, and substantive development of the Vietnam-UK strategic partnership moving forward.