Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) -National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue held online talks withSpeaker of the Legislative Council of Brunei His Excellency Pehin Dato Abdul Rahman Taib on June 9, duringwhich they noted with pleasure that bilateral ties are growing fruitfully.

๊ Regarding the cooperation focus in the near future, Hue suggested effectively carrying out bilateralcooperation mechanisms and better tapping bilateral cooperation potential, towardsachieving two-way trade of 500 million USD.

TheVietnamese NA supports and stays ready to work with the Legislative Council ofBrunei for the development of a harmonious and self-resilient ASEAN Community,he affirmed.

ౠ The Vietnamese leaderemphasised that parliaments should continue making active and responsiblecontributions to the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA)’s activities, including ensuring peace and stability; upholding common principles, values and standards; strengthening solidarity andcentral role of ASEAN; abiding by law, especially the 1982 United NationsConvention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), towards building a practical and effective Codeof Conduct (COC) in the East Sea.

NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue (Photo: VNA)

According to the Chairman,concerned parties need to build a regional economy with sustainable growth, placethe people in the centre in policy making while continuing to uphold ASEAN’scentrality, consolidate the rules-based regional architecture, and highlight internationallaw, with a focus on multilateral cooperation.

Pehin Dato Abdul Rahman, for his part,hailed Vietnam as one of the countries that Brunei wants to import more farmproduce to meet its people's demand.

He lauded the VietnameseNA for promoting important regional issues in its capacity as AIPA Chair, and wished thetwo nations would work closely together within ASEAN and AIPA frameworks.

As the COVID-19 pandemic isspreading complicatedly across the world, posing risks to economic recovery due to theinsufficient supply of vaccines and vaccine production technology, Huehighlighted the importance of fair sharing and access to COVID-19 vaccinesworldwide as well as the digitalisation and application of informationtechnology in the fight against the pandemic, which he said, requires closecollaboration between legislative and executive agencies. This content needs tobe tabled for discussion at the 42nd ASEAN Inter-ParliamentaryAssembly scheduled for August, he said.

Pehin Dato Abdul Rahman affirmed thatBrunei supports the fair distribution of vaccines among nations, and emphasised the need of cooperation to ensure fair supply of vaccines for every countryand person.

💖 On the occasion, the top Vietnamese legislator thanked Brunei for assisting Vietnamese citizensliving and working in the country in getting vaccinations against COVID-19./.