Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue (right) met with Vice President of the Philippines Sara Duterte on November 24. (Photo: VNA)

 At the meeting, as part of his official visit to the Philippines from November 23-25, the top Vietnamese legislator briefed the host on the positive results of talks and meetings with senior Philippine leaders, affirming that the visit was aimed at consolidating and promoting relations between Viet Nam and the Philippines in general and between the legislatures of the two countries in particular.

 Both host and guest expressed their delight at the positive development of trade relations between the two countries over the past time, saying the first 10 months of 2022 saw bilateral trade reach 6.6 billion USD, nearly equal to the total turnover in 2021. They held that there remains a lot of room for cooperation in several fields, including investment, culture, education, and agriculture.

 The two leaders agreed to increase bilateral cooperation on education, and set forth collaboration programmes on education and human resources development which are in line with the interests of each country, especially in fields of the Philippines' strength, including teaching English, electronic assembly, accounting and auditing.

 The legislator said the National Assembly of Viet Nam always supports and facilitates investment and business activities of Philippine enterprises in Vietnam.

 He proposed the Vice President continue to facilitate economic, trade and investment relations between the two countries and hoped that the Philippines will continue to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese citizens living and studying there.

 On this occasion, the NA Chairman conveyed Vietnamese leaders’ invitation to Vice President Duterte to visit Vietnam soon.

 For her part, Vice President Duterte congratulated Viet Nam on many impressive achievements it has recorded in post-COVID-19 recovery and socio-economic development, becoming an economic hub in the region.

The Vice President, who is also President of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas CMD) Party, said she wishes to strengthen relations with the Communist Party of Viet Nam, and that she supports continued cooperation between the two countries’ localities.

 Vice President Duterte also thanked Viet Nam for always being a reliable partner in helping the Philippines ensure food security./.