Moscow (VNA) – National Assembly (NA) Chairwoman Nguyen Thi KimNgan and Chairman of the State Duma of Russia Vyacheslav V. Volodin on December11 co-chaired the first meeting of the inter-parliamentary cooperation committeebetween the two legislatory bodies.

Both sides saidthey are determined to play a partin fostering the Vietnam-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership and agreedon the importance of common measures to develop more practical cooperation inpotential areas.

They agreed that bilateral ties have grown strongly inrecent years in the fields of politics, economy, trade, investment, defence and security, scienceand technology, culture and tourism, and emphasised that promoting multi-faceted relations is inthe interests of the two countries’ people.

The leaders spoke highly of the exchange of parliamentary experience during the implementation of internationalconventions attended byVietnam and Russia.

They affirmedthe parliament’s significant role in enhancing the comprehensive strategicpartnership, particularly strengthening the legal basis for the bilateral relations.They expressed their willingness tofacilitate the implementation of the two countries’ agreements in order toboost bilateral cooperation in economy, trade, investment and performance of businesses from both sides.

The toplegislators stressed theimportance of close coordination between the two sides at internationalparliamentary organisations, such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Asia-PacificParliamentary Forum, meetings with dialogue partners at the ASEANInter-Parliamentary Assembly, the Meeting of Speakers of Eurasian Countries’Parliaments and the International Forum “Development of Parliamentarism.”

They alsoagreed to step up coordination at regional and global forums.

The Vietnameseside voiced its support forRussian initiatives in developing parliamentarism and promoting multilateral cooperation among legislativebodies.

The two sidesshowed their determination to boost bilateral multi-facetedpartnerships on thebasis of equality, adherence to international rules, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity,and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs for peace, stability andsustainable development.

They exchangedbroad views on common steps which must be taken to bolster bilateralcooperation in education and training, culture and tourism, exchange betweenlocaliies, defence and security.

They also reached a concensus on expanding exchange of information and applicable legaldocuments in emerging areas such as the digital economy, cyber management and high technology, among others.

The two sidesagreed to schedule thecommittee’s second meeting in Vietnam in 2020./.