At the talks, NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan expressed her happiness on leading a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation of the NA to visit a beautiful, peaceful, and hospitable country of Sweden. She also thanked the host for the solemn reception.
Speaker of the Swedish Parliament Urban Ahlin receiving NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.
The Vietnamese legislative leader highlighted the time-honored relationship and fruitful multifaceted cooperation between the two countries over the past nearly five decades. She affirmed that Sweden stands a special position in the heart of Vietnamese people, and especially the image of thousands of Swedish people going along streets of Swedish cities to protest the US-waged war in Vietnam will be remembered by the Vietnamese people forever.
“Vietnamese leaders and people have always remembered the great assistance of Sweden, including such Sweden-invested projects and structures as the Vietnam National Hospital of Pediatrics, Vietnam-Sweden Hospital in Quang Ninh province, Bai Bang Paper Mill, which have become the symbol of Sweden’s friendship with and precious support for Vietnam,” Ngan emphasized.
Congratulating Sweden on its non-permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council in the 2017-2018 tenure, NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan believed that Sweden would make a large contribution to boosting peace and security, avoiding conflicts and promoting observation of international law.
She took this occasion to ask for Sweden’s support for Vietnam’s candidacy for the same position of the United Nations Security Council in the 2020-2021 tenure. She proposed Sweden to help accelerate the European Union (EU)’s early signing and approval of the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and soon recognize Vietnam’s market economy, creating more opportunities for the two sides’ businesses to bolster cooperation and expand investment and business.
She emphasized that the NA of Vietnam highly valued the participation of Speaker of the Swedish parliament Urban Ahlin and the high-ranking delegation of the Swedish Parliament in the 132nd Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly in Hanoi, contributing to the success of the Assembly and the adoption of the Hanoi Declaration.
Since Sweden has strength in judicial and legal fields, NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan asked the Swedish Parliament to continue supporting and sharing experience with the NA of Vietnam in law-making, supervision of the State apparatus’s operation and cadre-training.
For his part, Speaker of the Swedish Parliament Urban Ahlin was happy to receive the Vietnamese NA Chairwoman and the high-ranking Vietnamese NA delegation and expressed his satisfaction over seeing positive developments in friendship between the two countries and growing ties between the two legislative bodies.
During the talks, the two sides spoke highly of the long-lasting cooperation between Vietnam and Sweden and agreed on the need to continue bolstering their trade and investment cooperation to tap each country’s potential.
They both wished to develop the legislative ties to a new height by boosting their coordination in supervising and pushing up implementation of cooperation deals inked by the two governments and of strategic cooperation projects.
They also voiced their support for the enhancement of exchanges between the two governments, localities, businesses and peoples and reached consensus on fostering their ties to boost mutual understanding and win-win cooperation, cooperation for development and environmental protection.
With its experience in judicial aspect, Sweden is willing to share experience with Vietnam in supervising operations of State agencies. Sweden is also ready to share experience in building smart cities and environmental protection.
Sweden supported EU’s early official signing and approval of EVFTA. The two sides said that the early signing and ratification of EVFTA would benefit all involved parties, including Vietnam and Sweden, contributing to increasing bilateral trade turnover.
Gender equality, women’s role in society, experience in corruption prevention and control were also discussed during the talks.
In the evening the same day, Speaker of the Swedish Parliament Urban Ahlin held a banquet for the Vietnamese guests.
Translated by Mai Huong