Warmly welcoming the State visit to Vietnam of President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife, the National Assembly Chairman was delighted to welcome the President at the Vietnam National Assembly Building - a building designed by talented German architects.
The National Assembly Chairman said that in its foreign policy, Vietnam always attaches importance to and prioritizes developing relations with the Federal Republic of Germany, a leading power in Europe and the world; and wishes to deepen the strategic partnership with Germany through the Party, National Assembly, Government and people-to-people exchanges.
The National Assembly Chairman expressed his joy and pride in the great and comprehensive cooperation achievements after nearly 50 years of establishing diplomatic relations and more than a decade of establishing the Strategic Partnership. The Vietnam-Germany relationship is developing strongly towards a bright future. The National Assembly Chairman asked the President to support the two sides in strengthening parliamentary cooperation; coordinate in organizing meaningful activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2025; and promote close cooperation and mutual support at multilateral forums.
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed his joy that over the past 50 years, each country has become increasingly important. The cooperative relationship is demonstrated through high-level visits at all levels. Especially in 2023, cooperation between a number of ministries and sectors of the two countries has been actively implemented, including attracting Vietnamese human resources to work in Germany.
The President said that with the aim of strengthening the cooperative relationship between the two countries, including the National Assembly, the delegation this time included representatives of the German Parliament. This demonstrates the importance of developing cooperative relations between the two countries and the two National Assemblies. Looking back over the past 50 years, the geopolitical situation in the world has changed a lot. In the overall Vietnam - Germany strategic partnership, the value of peace, the viewpoint of resolving conflicts by peaceful means, based on international law are common values that the two countries uphold and respect.
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier agreed with the National Assembly Chairman's opinion that economic cooperation is a pillar of the bilateral relationship, is developing positively and still has a lot of potential. With the desire to increase economic and trade exchanges, this delegation includes representatives of German enterprises wishing to seek investment and business opportunities in Vietnam.
The National Assembly Chairman emphasized that Germany is a leading economic partner, a market for nearly 20% of Vietnam's exports to the EU, and Germany is the gateway for Vietnamese goods to European markets. Vietnam is Germany's leading trade partner in Southeast Asia and ranks 7th in Asia. The National Assembly Chairman highly appreciated the German business community's positive contributions to improving institutions and laws in Vietnam in recent times; affirmed that the Vietnamese National Assembly always listens to opinions and makes efforts to improve the investment and business environment for the business community, including German enterprises. The National Assembly Chairman asked the President to continue to support and encourage German enterprises to invest and do business in Vietnam in heavy industry, energy, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, transport infrastructure, etc.
The National Assembly Chairman thanked Germany for supporting the signing of the EVFTA Free Trade Agreement; and asked President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to support the German Parliament in soon ratifying the EVIPA Investment Protection Agreement, opening up new opportunities for German enterprises to continue to expand investment and successfully do business in Vietnam.
The National Assembly Chairman thanked the German Government for providing ODA to Vietnam over the past three decades in macroeconomic reform, environment, health, education, vocational training, etc., making an important contribution to Vietnam's socio-economic development. Vietnam hopes to continue receiving effective support and cooperation from Germany in this field. Germany supports Vietnam in accessing green financial resources to help Vietnam respond to climate change, develop a green and sustainable economy, implement the COP 26 commitment (net zero) by 2050, and hopes Germany will share its experience in institution building, human resource training, and technology transfer.
According to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in order to strengthen economic relations between the two countries, removing administrative barriers is very important in both countries. Specifically, on the German side, it is to improve and ease regulations and procedures to receive specialized workers from Vietnam. In the field of renewable energy and green energy, finance is an important issue. Germany is interested in technological cooperation with Vietnam. Along with the goal of reducing net emissions to zero, the two countries will soon cooperate in this field.
The National Assembly Chairman was pleased to see that the relationship between the two countries' National Assemblies has been continuously consolidated and developed well, both bilaterally and multilaterally; highly appreciated the cooperation and exchange of delegations between the two sides at high levels and between specialized committees and friendship parliamentarians' groups; consultations at international forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership (ASEP), enhancing understanding and sharing of experiences in legislation, supervision, and decision-making on important national issues.
The National Assembly Chairman emphasized that the Vietnamese National Assembly is perfecting its legal system and wishes to cooperate and exchange experiences with Germany, a European country with a highly developed legal system. The two National Assemblies will strengthen coordination in supervising and urging the implementation of cooperation agreements signed by the two governments and strategic cooperation projects; and support the governments, localities, businesses and people of the two countries to increase exchanges and cooperation.
On this occasion, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue asked President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to pay attention to and support the establishment of the Germany-Vietnam Parliamentary Friendship Group to further strengthen the friendship and cooperation between the two countries' parliaments.
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