NA Chairman’s trip marks new milestone in relations with Latin American countries: officials

April 30,ty so inter 2023 - 18:44 Your browser does not support the audio element. NA Chairman Vường Đình Huệ’s trip to Cuba, Argentina and Uruguay was a success as it opened up a new development period in relations between Việt Nam and the three Latin American nations

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue on April 19 attends the special session of the 10th Cuban National Assembly. VNA/VNS Photo Doãn Tấn

HÀ NỘI – National Assembly Chairman Vường Đình Huệ’s trip to Cuba, Argentina and Uruguay, from April 18-28, was a success as it opened up a new development period in relations between Việt Nam and the three Latin American nations, said Bùi Văn Cường, NA Secretary General and Chairman of the NA Office.

Sharing Cường’s view, Vũ Hải Hà, Chairman of the NA Committee for External Relations, highlighted the diverse and comprehensive contents of the meetings within the trip.

Lại Xuân Môn, deputy head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Information and Education, said the Cuban side spoke highly of the visit as well as NA Chairman Huệ’s speech at a special plenary session of the 10th NA of the People’s Power of Cuba.

The speech served as a source of encouragement for Cuban officials, Party members and people to overcome challenges caused by the embargo to continue with the path towards socialism, he noted.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Cuba Lê Thanh Tùng said Cuban Party and State leaders offered special rituals to NA Chairman Huệ and his entourage, and the two sides shared the view that the bilateral relationship has become an invaluable asset shared by the two nations.

Mai Thi Phương Hoa, Vice Chairwoman of the NA Committee for Judicial Affairs, who is also President of the Việt Nam-Argentina Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group and the Việt Nam-Uruguay Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group, said the Việt Nam-Uruguay Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group, established on April 14, 2023, made its debut on this occasion.

This is an important parliamentary activity as it helps parliamentarians exchange professional experience, while promoting parliamentary diplomacy, she continued.

Regarding the trip’s outcomes in economic cooperation, Minister of Construction Nguyễn Thanh Nghị, who co-chairs the Việt Nam-Cuba Inter-Governmental Committee, said the committee will work harder to enhance trade ties between the two countries, thus raising the bilateral trade to US$500 million in the near future.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Đỗ Thắng Hải, who co-chairs the Việt Nam-Argentina Inter-Governmental Committee, emphasised that the NA Chairman’s visit reiterated Việt Nam’s commitment to working together with Argentina to advance the bilateral economic, trade and investment ties to a new height.

For agriculture, the two sides continued looking into market opening for farm produce of each other, and cooperation potential in fishery, he said, adding that new collaboration fields were proposed during the visit like food safety, customs, science-technology, software, wood exploitation and processing, renewable energy, and innovation.

Following the trip, trade between Việt Nam and Argentina and Uruguay, especially Việt Nam’s exports to the markets, is expected to make progress, the official said.

Asked about cooperation prospects between Việt Nam and the three countries, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Hà Kim Ngọc said “we can be optimistic about cooperative relations with Cuba, Argentina and Uruguay.”

The sides displayed their determination, efforts and actions to materialise cooperation potential and opportunities, he explained.

Cuban and Argentine ambassadors to Việt Nam also shared the view that the trip will exert profound and long-term impacts on cooperation between the Southeast Asian nation and the Latin American region. VNS