Vietnam, Singapore legislatures strengthen ties
Vietnam National Assembly (NA) Vice Chairman Huynh Ngoc Son led a delegation to Singapore from July 29-30 to boost bilateral cooperation, especially between the two legislative bodies.
On July 30, Son was received by Speaker of the Singaporean Parliament Halimah Yacob, who expressed her hope to increase the two legislatures’ cooperation, both bilaterally and multilaterally.
She suggested the two sides strengthen coordination at the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) and other international forums.Son affirmed that Vietnam will continue cooperating with other ASEAN and AIPA member countries, including Singapore, to form a united and developed ASEAN Community by 2015.
The two legislative bodies should increase the exchange of delegations at all levels, pay attention to cooperation between their committees, consider the signing of cooperative agreements and speed up the establishment of a friendship parliamentarians’ group in each country, he said.
The top Singaporean legislator acknowledged the Vietnamese side’s proposals, affirming that Singapore will accelerate the establishment of a parliamentarians’ group with Vietnam, and send a high-ranking delegation to the 132nd General Assembly of the International Parliamentary Union (IPU-132) to be held in Vietnam in 2015.
During its stay in Singapore, the Vietnamese delegation also held working sessions with other senior Singaporean officials, including Senior Minister of State for Defence Chan Chun Sing, Second Minister for Home Affairs S Iswaran, Defence Permanent Secretary Chan Yeng Kit and Deputy Director of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Defence and Foreign Affairs Ellen Lee.
At the meetings, the Vietnamese side spoke highly of Singapore’s socio-economic and diplomatic achievements over the past time, as well as the country’s increasing role in ASEAN and other regional and international organisations.
Son applauded the two countries’ active discussions on the content of their strategic partnership to be announced during Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien-Loong’s coming visit to Vietnam.
He also expressed his belief that the strategic partnership will help lift bilateral ties to a new height, in the interests of the two peoples, and for peace, stability and development in the region and the rest of the world.
The Singaporean officials agreed to seek new cooperation fields with Vietnam while maintaining the effective implementation of current cooperation mechanisms.