Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan is welcomed at the airport by Jiang Xiaojuan, Vice Chairperson of the Committee for Social Construction of the NPC, and officials of Jiangsu. (Photo: VNA)

The visit is an important political event, affirming that the Vietnamese Party, State and National Assembly attach importance to developing the time-honoured friendship, the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Vietnam and China; and wish to expand cooperation between the two legislative bodies to new heights.

Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan’s visit comes at a time when the bilateral relationship continues in the trend of stable and active development. The two sides maintain regular high-level visits and meetings. In April 2019, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in China. Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe visited Vietnam in May 2019.

Both countries’ senior leaders emphasised that the Vietnam-China friendship is the valuable asset of the two countries and people that need to be safeguarded, inherited and developed while affirming the efforts to deepen the bilateral relationship; support each other in reform, opening-up, and socialist construction in each country, for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and in the world at large.

Economic cooperation continues to be a highlight in the relationship between the two countries. China is currently Vietnam’s largest trading partner, largest import market and second largest export market while Vietnam is China’s largest trading partner in ASEAN. In 2018, bilateral trade reached US$106.7 billion, up 13.8% from a year earlier. In the first four months of 2019, bilateral trade reached US$33.24 billion, up 11.58% year on year. Concerning investment, China currently ranks 7th among more than 100 countries and territories investing in Vietnam, with a total capital of US$15.1 billion.

In tourism, the first four months of 2019 saw 1.3 million Chinese tourists travel to Vietnam while there are over 1 million Vietnamese visiting China each year. With regards to maritime issues, the two sides maintain regular exchange of opinions at high-level meetings and meetings at other levels. The two sides have signed an agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of issues at sea and reached many common perceptions on managing disagreements and maintaining peace and stability in the East Sea.

The relationship between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Chinese National People’s Congress has also seen positive developments in recent years. Following National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung’s visit to China in December 2015 was a visit to Vietnam in November 2016 by Zhang Dejiang, member of the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People’s National Congress. It was the highest-level visit to Vietnam by a Chinese leader in 2016 and the first visit of a top Chinese legislator in 15 years. National Assembly Vice Chairman Do Ba Ty visited China in December 2017 and Chen Zhu, Vice Chairman of the Chinese National People’s Congress, visited Vietnam in January 2018 to attend the 26th Annual Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum. The two sides have also exchanged many delegations of their legislatures’ specialist agencies.

During this China visit, Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan will discuss with senior Chinese leaders on measures to strengthen the traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership in specific areas, namely politics, the economy, security, defence, and education as well as well cooperation at multilateral forums and exchange of opinions on international issues of shared interest.

The two sides will also exchange their opinions and ways to effectively implement the cooperation agreement between the two legislative bodies, the signed cooperation documents, programmes and projects, and discuss the orientation for increasing cooperation between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Chinese National People’s Congress in the future. This is an opportunity for the two sides to enhance political trust and promote the implementation of the common perceptions and high-level agreements reached between the two countries’ senior leaders.

May Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan’s official visit to China a great success, helping to solidify and develop the cooperative relationship between the two countries in a substantive, practical and effective manner while fostering the time-honoured friendship and comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to develop in a stable, healthy and sustainable manner, for the sake of the two countries’ peoples, for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world at large.