Geneva (VNA) – The National Assembly ofVietnam always supports government-to-government cooperation and will do itsbest to elevate bilateral ties with Bulgaria to the next level for a productivetrade partnership, NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan has said.

Ngan had a meeting with her Bulgarian counterpart Tsveta Karayancheva on March25 in Geneva, Switzerland on the sidelines of the 138thInter-Parliamentary Union Assembly.

The Vietnamese toplegislator noted that Vietnam and Bulgaria have shared sound long-standingtraditional friendship, stressing that Vietnamese people always keep in theirmind the effective support that Bulgarian people have given to Vietnam in thepast struggle for liberation as well as current national construction.

She highlighted progress in bilateral ties over thepast years, especially in politics and diplomacy, expressing her hope that thetwo sides will continue increasing the exchange of high-level delegations ofsectors, localities as well as parliament agencies to seek specific measures toboost bilateral partnership in all fields.

She noted that although two-way trade reached nearly110 million USD in 2017, the figure has yet to match economic cooperationpotential between the two countries.

The Vietnamese NA leader proposed that the two sidessoon organise the 24th meeting of the bilateral Inter-GovernmentalCommittee on economic, trade and science cooperation, while fosteringconnectivity between the business communities of the two countries by creatingfavourable conditions for them to join trade promotion activities in eachother’s country, especially in energy, infrastructure, environmentalprotection, and food processing.

She thanked Bulgaria for training over 4,000 officialsfor Vietnam.

Ngan also showed her delight at effective coordinationof Vietnam and Bulgaria at international forums and organisations. Vietnamhighly values Bulgaria’s support for its bid to run for a seat at the ExecutiveBoard of the UNESCO for the 2015-2019 tenure, a member of the UN Economic andSocial Council for the 2016-2018 tenure and a non-permanent member of the UNSecurity Council for the 2020-2021 tenure.

Vietnam hopes that Bulgaria, as EU President fromJanuary 2018, will help Vietnam strengthen ties with the EU and hasten thesigning of the Vietnam-EU free trade agreement, she said, pledging that Vietnamis willing to help Bulgaria and the EU strengthen ties with other ASEAN membercountries.

She noted that the NA of Vietnam set up aVietnam-Bulgaria friendship parliamentarian group and suggested that theparliament of Bulgaria do the same.

For her part, Tsveta Karayancheva said that Vietnamhas had an important role in the economic development policy of Bulgaria inparticular and of the EU in general.

She affirmed that as the EU President, Bulgaria willwork harder to support Vietnam to run for a non-permanent membership of the EUSecurity Council.

She revealed that the parliament of Bulgaria has establisheda friendship group with Vietnam, expressing her belief that members of thegroup will contribute to the strengthening of cooperation between the twolegislative bodies as well as the two countries in general.

She proposed that the two countries foster cooperationin tourism.

On the occasion, the Bulgarian top legislator invitedher Vietnamese counterpart to pay an official visit to Bulgaria soon to discussmeasures to bolster bilateral relations. NA Chairwoman Ngan accepted theinvitation with pleasure.-VNA