According to VNA correspondent in South Asia, on November 25, in Colombo, Vietnamese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Trinh Thi Tam met with Dr. Dammika Patabendi, Sri Lankan Minister of Environment and Chairwoman of the Sri Lanka-Vietnam Parliamentary Friendship Group, to discuss directions for promoting bilateral relations, parliamentary cooperation and people-to-people exchange.
At the meeting, Minister Patabendi inquired about the flood situation in Vietnam, expressed his sympathy and sympathy for the people in the affected localities; and said that Sri Lanka is also overcoming the consequences of landslides caused by heavy rains for many days in the Central province.
Minister Patabendi was also interested in learning about the preparations for the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam ; Vietnam's priorities and major goals in the coming time; and expressed admiration for Vietnam's rapid and strong economic development.
For her part, Ambassador Trinh Thi Tam recalled the visit to Sri Lanka by Vice Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam Nguyen Duc Hai in March 2025, thanking the Sri Lankan National Assembly and Government for their warm and thoughtful welcome; saying that the visit created an important impetus for parliamentary cooperation and contributed to further strengthening the traditional friendship between the two countries.
The Ambassador appreciated the active coordination of the Sri Lanka-Vietnam Parliamentary Friendship Group since its establishment in March 2025, especially in organizing activities to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries with the participation of the President and Vice President of the National Assembly of Sri Lanka.
Ambassador Trinh Thi Tam also mentioned the State visit to Vietnam and participation in the United Nations Vesak Celebration hosted by Vietnam in May 2025 by Sri Lankan President Dissanayake, in which the two sides issued a Joint Statement reaffirming their determination to promote parliamentary cooperation, environment, people-to-people exchange, along with other priority areas such as trade, investment, agriculture, fisheries, education, culture, etc.
Since the visit, many important results have been recorded, including promoting visits, most recently the Deputy Minister of Digital Economy of Sri Lanka to attend the signing ceremony of the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime in October 2025, and implementing bilateral cooperation mechanisms, with the two sides holding the 3rd Meeting of the Joint Subcommittee on Trade in December; the number of tourists from the two countries visiting each other is also increasing positively, in the first 10 months of 2025, about 3,000 Vietnamese people visited Sri Lanka; the two sides are actively exchanging and promoting the early opening of direct flights in 2026; recently, the first 10 Sri Lankan students received full scholarships at major universities in Vietnam, studying programs in Vietnamese.
Regarding specialized cooperation, Ambassador Trinh Thi Tam highly appreciated the potential for cooperation in the environmental field, especially waste management, nature conservation, marine conservation, climate change response, green growth, etc.; proposed that the two sides consider establishing cooperation frameworks in this field.
The Ambassador also suggested that the two sides continue to promote parliamentary cooperation and invite the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Sri Lanka-Vietnam Parliamentary Friendship Group to visit Vietnam at an appropriate time.
Minister Dammika Patabendi welcomed the proposals of Ambassador Trinh Thi Tam, affirming that Vietnam is an important partner in the Southeast Asian region and Sri Lanka wishes to continue expanding cooperation in areas of common interest; supporting the two sides to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the environmental field.
The Minister also said that he will attend the United Nations Environment Conference (UNEA) in Kenya next December, where Sri Lanka will propose a Resolution on the role of youth in the environment. He hopes that Vietnam will support this initiative of Sri Lanka, and at the same time, he hopes to have a bilateral meeting with Vietnamese leaders attending this conference.
As Chairman of the Sri Lanka-Vietnam Parliamentary Friendship Group, the Minister affirmed the commitment of the Parliamentary Friendship Group to accompany the Embassy in activities in 2026, including the 15th anniversary of the reopening of the Embassy in Colombo and the development of the relic site of President Ho Chi Minh at the Colombo Public Library, while continuing to promote exchange programs between the two countries' Parliaments.
At the end of the working session, the two sides agreed to continue to closely coordinate to implement the contents agreed upon by the two countries' senior leaders, contributing to developing the Vietnam-Sri Lanka relationship more substantially and effectively in the coming time./.
Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/viet-namsri-lanka-mo-rong-hop-tac-tren-cac-linh-vuc-tiem-nang-va-uu-tien-post1079294.vnp
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