Rabat (VNA) – National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man and his wife Nguyen Thi Thanh Nga, along with a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam, arrived in Rabat on July 24 evening (local time), beginning a four-day official visit to Morocco.

The chairman and his entourage were welcomed at Salé Rabat airport by Speaker of the Moroccan House of Representatives Rachid Talbi Alami, and Vietnamese Ambassador to Morocco Le Kim Quy.

Immediately after, the two parliament leaders had a brief meeting.

Since establishing diplomatic relations on March 27, 1961, the friendship and bonds between Vietnam and Morocco have been steadily strengthened and developed across multiple sectors.

Political and diplomatic relations between the two countries have achieved significant milestones through increasingly frequent high-level delegation exchanges. Both sides have supported each other at multilateral forums.

Bilateral trade turnover in 2024 reached over 302 million USD, a year-on-year increase of 28.5%. Vietnam exported 275.95 million USD worth of products to Morocco, primarily mobile phones and components, pepper, and coffee, while Morroco sold 26.52 million USD of goods, mainly computers and electronic components, fertilisers, leather, and footwear to the Southeast Asian country.

Parliamentary cooperation between Vietnam and Morocco is growing. Vietnam's National Assembly and Morocco's House of Representatives signed a cooperation agreement during the official visit of Moroccan House Speaker Habib El Malki to Vietnam in December 2017. Both sides have promoted exchanges of delegations at all levels over the past years, which have paved the way for collaboration in many other areas.

Multilaterally, both parliaments have maintained contact and consultation at such forums as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Francophone Parliamentary Assembly (APF).

With the support of the Vietnamese National Assembly, which held the Chairmanship of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) in 2020, the Moroccan Parliament was officially admitted as an AIPA observer in September 2020.

During the visit, Chairman Man is scheduled to hold high-level talks and meetings with Morocco’s senior leaders. He will also engage in policy discussions with businesses and meet with the Vietnamese community in Morocco.

He will attend a seminar on legal policies to promote economic, trade and investment cooperation between Vietnam and Morocco, hold a meeting with the President of the Morocco - Vietnam Friendship Association, President of the Morocco - Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians Group, meet with staff of the Vietnamese Embassy and the Vietnamese community in Morocco.

♉ This is the first official visit by a key Vietnamese leader to Morocco in six years. It will create a strong impetus for the two sides to continue promoting cooperation, especially in trade, investment, agriculture and tourism, towards the goal of achieving USD 500 million in bilateral trade in the coming years./.