The host expressed his delight at meeting again with the Vietnamese NA Chairwoman and highly appreciated the visit of the head of the Vietnamese NA and the high-ranking NA delegation to Morocco on the occasion of the 58th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries (March 27, 1961).
Recalling his visit to Vietnam in December 2017, the Morocco House of Representatives said that via the visit he learnt more about Vietnam, which has defeated many powerful foreign invaders during its heroic history and now is a reliable partner of countries, a responsible member of the international community and an active contributor to peace, stability and development in the region and world. For these reasons, Vietnam was chosen to host the second Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and US Summit, he emphasized.
During the talks, the host spoke highly of President Ho Chi Minh, considering him not only the leader of the Vietnamese revolution, but also an inspirer of national liberation movements of many other nations. He underscored that Vietnam has helped him assure that a just struggle will lead a nation to the final victory. He affirmed that the values that the Vietnamese have been protecting are treasured by the Moroccan people.
For her part, the Vietnamese NA Chairwoman expressed her delight at visiting Morocco, a beautiful, peaceful and hospitable country, and thanked the host for the warm reception.
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Members of the Vietnamese delegation at the talks |
She briefed the host on Vietnam’s socio-economic situation, saying that Vietnam reached a growth rate of 7.08% in 2018, the record high in the past 10 years.
At this point, Vietnam has signed 12 free trade agreements (FTA) with different partners and is negotiating four FTAs with other bilateral or multilateral partners. Vietnam will take over the Chairmanship of ASEAN and AIPA in 2020 and is running for a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council in the term of 2020-21.
At the talks, the two parliamentary leaders showed their joy for recent positive developments in the bilateral relations. The host highlighted Vietnam as a bridge connecting Morocco to ASEAN and Asia as a whole, and affirmed that Morocco would serve as a doorway for Vietnam to enter the African market. This is a big potential for the two countries to boost their bilateral relations and cooperation, he emphasized.
The Vietnamese NA Chairwoman shared the same view and highly valued the outcomes of the fourth Joint Committee meeting and political consultation between the two sides. She suggested the two sides increase exchange of delegations at all levels, and particularly accelerate the preparation for the visit of the King of Morocco to Vietnam and visits of other leaders to each other’s country.
The guest also affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to promoting friendship and multi-sided cooperation with African countries, particularly Morocco, a priority of Vietnam in Northern Africa. The Vietnamese people always follow the situation in Morocco and feel happy with significant achievements obtained by the Moroccans in socio-economic development in recent times.
The two sides agreed that the two countries have had common views on many international issues thanks to close coordination, regular exchange and consultation over the past time; therefore, they should strengthen coordination and provide more support for each other at multilateral forums in the coming time.
The host thanked the Vietnamese NA Chairwoman for inviting Morocco to attend the 26th Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF 26), and hoped that Vietnam would advocate Morocco to become an observer of ASEAN and AIPA.
The guest affirmed that Vietnam has been supporting and will support Morocco at all multilateral forums, and expressed hope that Morocco as a member of the African Union (AU) will help connect Vietnam and AU.
The two leaders also admitted that the trade and economic cooperation between the two countries is still modest and inadequate to the good political relations and aspirations of both sides. The guest suggested the two sides seek to create favorable conditions for enterprises of the two countries to promote connectivity; soon sign a memorandum of understanding between the Vietnamese Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Morocco Ministry of Industry, Investment, Trade and Digital Economy on the establishment of a Trade and Industry Cooperation Committee; promote banking cooperation so as to set up a direct transaction system between commercial banks of the two countries.
The two leaders expressed delight at positive outcomes of negotiations on the signing of cooperation agreements between the Vietnamese State Bank and Morocco's Central Bank as well as between Vietnam Airlines and Royal Air Maroc.
After the talks, the two leaders co-host a press conference, and both stated that the talks had been a big success. The two leaders also affirmed that the two sides would strengthen their relations and expand cooperation in various fields in the time to come.
Reported by Chien Thang from Rabat, Morocco
Translated by Thu Nguyen