National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue receives US Senate delegation

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue highly appreciated Senator Mike Crapo and the congressmen in the delegation in promoting Vietnam-US relations in recent times.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue receives US Senator Mike Crapo. (Source: VNA)

On the afternoon of May 26, at the National Assembly House, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue received a delegation of the US Senate led by Senator Mike Crapo.

Welcoming the US Senators' delegation to Vietnam, the National Assembly Chairman thanked and appreciated Senator Mike Crapo and the members of the delegation for promoting the Vietnam-US relationship in recent times; at the same time, he expressed his belief that the delegation's visit to Vietnam this time will be an important milestone, contributing to the deeper and more substantial development of the relationship between the two countries and the two National Assemblies, especially on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Comprehensive Partnership (2023).

The National Assembly Chairman highly appreciated the positive, substantive and comprehensive development of the bilateral relationship in recent times on bilateral, regional and international levels.

Leaders of the two countries have had many bilateral meetings on the sidelines of regional and international forums, especially the successful talks between General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Joe Biden on March 29, as well as most recently the meeting between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in May 2023 in Japan.

Welcoming the two countries' discussion on upgrading the bilateral relationship framework in line with the interests of the people and actively contributing to regional stability, cooperation and development, the National Assembly Chairman emphasized that Vietnam welcomes the United States to strengthen cooperation with the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.

Vietnam hopes that through new strategies and initiatives, the United States will continue to demonstrate its strong commitment to supporting ASEAN centrality, the ASEAN-US Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and the Mekong-US Partnership.

Senator Mike Crapo thanked the National Assembly Chairman for taking the time to meet. Appreciating the comments and agreeing with the National Assembly Chairman's opinions on cooperation in overcoming the consequences of war, economy, trade, investment, and cooperation between the Legislative Branch, the Senator emphasized that the delegation's visit aimed to strengthen the relationship between the two countries; promote business and trade opportunities, resolve the consequences of war, continue cooperation in searching for missing soldiers in the war, and efforts to clean up dioxin-contaminated areas... The delegation pledged to ensure that the United States will always stand side by side with Vietnam to overcome the consequences of war. This is a very high priority in the cooperative relationship between the two countries.

Agreeing with the National Assembly Chairman's opinion that the bilateral trade turnover of 123 billion USD in 2022 is a high level, Senator Mike Crapo also expressed his hope that this figure will continue to grow; both sides need to make efforts to reverse the US's position as the 7th largest foreign investor to become the number 1 investor in Vietnam. The Senator also highly appreciated Vietnam's commitments to all 4 pillars of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) Initiative.

According to the Senator, the two sides can cooperate in multilateral and bilateral cooperation mechanisms. This is also one of the highest priorities of the United States for countries today, including Vietnam and the entire Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.

Emphasizing that Vietnam is very interested in expanding trade negotiations related to market access between the two countries, the Senator highly appreciated Vietnam's approaches and fully supported them. The United States looks forward to working with Vietnam to realize these plans.

The US National Assembly Chairman and Senators agreed that cooperation in overcoming the consequences of war continues to be a bright spot in the bilateral relationship. The National Assembly Chairman hopes that the US will continue to effectively implement the Memorandum of Understanding on searching for Vietnamese soldiers who died or went missing in action during the war, focusing on sharing information and relics, and improving the capacity of Vietnamese experts in the field of DNA analysis.

The US Congress continues to give high priority to cooperation in overcoming the consequences of war; increase the budget to overcome dioxin hotspots, clear bombs and mines, support people with disabilities affected by the war, and search for and identify the remains of Vietnamese martyrs; especially speed up the completion of the Dioxin Contamination Treatment Project at Bien Hoa Airport area, promote the implementation and completion of the treatment of dioxin-contaminated soil in other areas such as A So Airport (A Luoi District, Thua Thien - Hue Province) and Phu Cat Airport (Binh Dinh Province).

The two sides highly appreciated the role of parliamentary cooperation in bilateral relations. Recently, the two National Assemblies have increased mutual visits, exchanges and contacts; supported and wished to further strengthen the relationship between the two National Assemblies, through promoting the exchange of delegations at all levels, especially high-ranking leaders of the National Assemblies, promoting cooperation between the agencies of the two National Assemblies and cooperation activities in various fields.

The National Assembly Chairman thanked and appreciated Senator Mike Crapo and the other members of the delegation for promoting Vietnam-US relations in recent times. (Source: VNA)

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue hopes that the two countries' National Assemblies will continue to expand cooperation in various forms so that US Congressmen and Vietnamese National Assembly deputies can better understand the situation in each country and the bilateral relationship, especially between young parliamentarians; promote the establishment of an exchange and coordination mechanism between the two countries' National Assemblies, between specialized committees, the Friendship Parliamentarians' Group, and Parliamentarians' Assistants; and soon establish a Group of Congressmen supporting Vietnam-US relations in the US Congress; and study and develop an official exchange and working mechanism between specialized committees of the Vietnamese National Assembly and the US Congress.

Several US Senators expressed their positive feelings about the country and people of Vietnam; shared their views on the 2% VAT reduction which will contribute to promoting trade. The general tax reduction roadmap contributes to removing barriers between countries, as well as supporting the people...

At the meeting, the National Assembly Chairman also said that Vietnam supports the US's role as APEC Chair (November 2023); stating that Vietnam is committed to promoting cooperation and connectivity towards sustainable and inclusive growth in the Asia-Pacific region; in which, APEC is one of the priority forums in implementing Vietnam's foreign policy strategy. Vietnam has successfully hosted the APEC Conference twice (in 2006 and 2017), the National Assembly Chairman hopes that the US will support Vietnam in hosting APEC 2027.

Regarding the East Sea, Vietnam highly appreciates the United States' support for Vietnam and ASEAN's stance on the East Sea, including ensuring freedom of navigation and aviation, and peaceful settlement of disputes on the basis of international law (UNCLOS 1982).

The National Assembly Chairman hopes that US Congressmen will visit Vietnam more often to see more clearly the achievements in the development process, ensuring social security, and leaving no one behind.

On this occasion, the National Assembly Chairman respectfully invited the US Bicameral Congressional Delegation to attend the 9th Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians hosted by the Vietnamese National Assembly next September in Hanoi.

After the reception, the US Senate delegation led by Senator Mike Crapo attended the plenary session of the Congress.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/chu-tich-quoc-hoi-vuong-dinh-hue-tiep-doan-dai-bieu-thuong-nghi-vien-hoa-ky-228610.html