National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue meets with President of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay

During his official visit to the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, on the morning of April 27 (local time), in the capital city of Montevideo, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue met with President Luis Lacalle Pou.

During his official visit to Eastern Uruguay, on the morning of April 27, 2023 (local time), in the capital Montevideo, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue met with President of Eastern Uruguay Luis Lacalle Pou. Photo: Doan Tan/VNA

At the meeting, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue expressed his joy and honor to visit Uruguay for the first time; thanked the Uruguayan side for the thoughtful and warm welcome; respectfully conveyed the greetings and regards of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, President Vo Van Thuong, and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to President Luis Lacalle Pou. The National Assembly Chairman congratulated the important achievements that the Uruguayan Government has achieved in recent times, especially in economic development, social stability and control of the COVID-19 pandemic, making Uruguay one of the countries with a high quality of life in Latin America; at the same time, contributing to enhancing the role and position of Uruguay in the region and the world. The National Assembly Chairman affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to the friendship and cooperation with Uruguay; appreciates the solidarity and support of the Uruguayan people for the Vietnamese people during the past struggle for national independence and liberation, as well as in the cause of national development today. President Luis Lacalle Pou expressed his admiration for Vietnam's achievements in the process of national construction and development, thereby contributing to stabilizing and improving people's lives, consolidating and enhancing Vietnam's position in the region and the international arena; emphasizing that the official visit to Uruguay by National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue is the first visit by a high-ranking Vietnamese leader to Uruguay since the two countries established diplomatic relations, which is of great significance in the context that the two countries are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations (August 11, 1993 - August 11, 2023). The Uruguayan President highly appreciated Vietnam's determination to strengthen bilateral relations through organizing a delegation with many high-ranking leaders of the Party, State, Government and important political organizations of Vietnam, as well as the practical and effective working program on the occasion of this visit of the delegation; expressed the hope that the two sides would continue to strengthen ties, promote exchanges of high-level delegations and ministries, and people-to-people exchanges to deepen the friendship and cooperation between the two countries; affirmed that Uruguay supports multilateralism and is ready to expand relations with partners outside the region, aiming to diversify economic-trade and investment relations; and affirmed that Uruguay is ready to be a gateway for Vietnam as well as ASEAN to access the South American region and the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) in business and investment activities of enterprises of both sides. National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue thanked the Uruguayan side for the warm welcome given to him and the high-level delegation of the Vietnamese National Assembly during this visit; announced the contents of the discussion at the meeting co-chaired on the same day with the President of the Senate-Vice President and President of the House of Representatives of Uruguay, according to which the two sides had substantive discussions on bilateral cooperation areas such as economy-trade, investment, culture-education, science and technology, and parliamentary cooperation. The President of the National Assembly suggested that Uruguay continue to speak out in support of promoting the early completion of the internal consultation process among MERCOSUR members and, together with Vietnam, announce the launch of negotiations on the Vietnam-MERCOSUR Free Trade Agreement, in order to further expand and enhance bilateral trade in line with the level of good political relations between the two countries. The two leaders expressed their delight that the Vietnam-Uruguay relationship continues to develop positively, and cooperation mechanisms are maintained effectively; The two sides maintained close coordination and exchanges at international forums and important global multilateral organizations, especially at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Forum for East Asia - Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC), etc.; agreed to jointly protect the principles and values ​​of multilateralism in the context of the world continuing to have complex and unpredictable developments and consequences due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as geopolitical and armed conflicts in some regions of the world. President Luis Lacalle Pou expressed his hope that Vietnam would have a voice in supporting Uruguay's accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Uruguay and three MERCOSUR member countries' candidacy to host the 2030 World Cup, and the early opening of the Vietnamese Embassy in Montevideo, Uruguay. On this occasion, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue conveyed the invitation of State President Vo Van Thuong to Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou to visit Vietnam. The Uruguayan President expressed his wish to visit Vietnam soon and suggested that the two sides arrange the visit through diplomatic channels. *Following the meeting with Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou, on the same day, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue also received Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay Nicolas Albertoni at the headquarters of the Uruguayan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. *During the visit, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue witnessed Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay Nicolas Albertoni sign the Minutes of the 3rd Meeting of the Joint Committee on Economic, Trade and Investment Cooperation between Vietnam and Uruguay. Previously, on April 14, the 3rd Meeting of the Joint Committee on Economic, Trade and Investment Cooperation between Vietnam and Uruguay was held online in Hanoi and Montevideo. Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of Vietnam Do Thang Hai and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay Nicolás Albertoni co-chaired the meeting.

According to the signed minutes, the two sides assessed that bilateral trade relations are still not commensurate with the existing potential between the two countries and emphasized the need to continue promoting cooperation within bilateral and multilateral frameworks, diversifying the structure of import and export products and stepping up trade promotion activities, connecting trade, supporting the business community to learn about the market and seek business opportunities. Regarding agricultural cooperation, the parties welcomed the establishment of direct contacts to continue exchanging technical issues in the licensing process for potential agricultural products to enter each other's markets. The Vietnamese side emphasized that in order to ensure the effective cooperation process of opening the agricultural market, the two sides need to identify priority products in order, carry out implementation for each product, and connect businesses to realize the achieved results. The Vietnamese side wishes to consult on agricultural products that Uruguay needs to import that Vietnam can add to the exchange list. Both sides expressed their interest in organizing a working session between quarantine agencies; discussing the potential for cooperation in the field of fisheries. In addition, many new cooperation contents were proposed such as cooperation in the fields of food safety, customs, science and technology, software, wood exploitation and processing, renewable energy, innovation, etc.

Hoang Thi Hoa (Vietnam News Agency)