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| Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (R) and newly-appointed Australian Ambassador Robyn Mudie (Photo: VNA) |
Chairwoman of the National Assembly (NA) Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan has asked newly-appointed Australian Ambassador Robyn Mudie to foster the exchange of high-ranking delegations and meetings in a bid to enhance political trust and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries.
At a reception for the Australian diplomat in Hanoi on February 19, Ngan thanked Mudie and Australian agencies for their coordination and contributions to the success of an official visit to Vietnam by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in August 2019, as well as Vietnamese NA Vice Chairwoman Tong Thi Phong’s attendance at the 28th annual meeting of the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) in Australia and her meeting with Vice President of the Australian Senate Sue Lines last January.
Ngan took this occasion to extend her sympathy over great losses in humans, property and environment caused by recent forest fires in Australian states, expressing her belief that local residents will surmount the consequences of the incidents.
The NA Chairwoman also voiced her hope that Vietnam and Australia will closely cooperate and increase the sharing of information and experience to well control the acute respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus (COVID-19), as the two countries have reported similar numbers of infection and recovery cases.
The top legislator expected that the two sides will soon complete the building of a program of action to deploy the Strategic Partnership for 2020-2023 and embark on the construction of an enhanced economic engagement strategy with the aim of becoming the top ten trade partner of each other and doubling the flow of investment, and initially bringing two-way trade to 10 billion USD this year.
For her part, Mudie, who once worked in Vietnam in 1992, pledged to spare no efforts to fulfill tasks during her term of office, thereby contributing to the Australia-Vietnam relations.
She spoke highly of Vietnam’s efforts to fight COVID-19 as the country has a larger population than Australia’s and it is near the outbreak’s epicenter.
The Vietnam visit by Australian PM Morrison last year was a success and helped to strengthen cooperative ties in various fields, she said, adding that Australia will support Vietnam’s economic reform, infrastructure development and women’s economic empowerment.
Australia pledged to continue assisting Vietnam when the country takes over major roles in international relations, especially as Vietnam assumes the non-permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council for 2020-2021 and Chair of ASEAN this year, Mudie affirmed.
Australia will work to foster cooperation relations between the two parliaments through parliamentary friendship groups and programs on raising capacity of parliamentarians, the ambassador added.
