Vietnam, Brazil to reinforce legislative relations

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam and Brazil expressed their readiness to enhance legislative relations during a working visit to the South American country by a Vietnamese National Assembly (NA) delegation.

The delegation, led by NA Vice Chairman Uong Chu Luu, had a meeting on April 24 with President of the Brazilian Senate Davi Alcolumbre, who said their visit will help bring bilateral ties to a new level.

The host also expressed his admiration for late President Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnamese people and their struggle for national independence.

He said he looks forwards to visiting Vietnam in the near future to implement cooperation activities between the two legislative bodies.

For his part, Vice Chairman Luu affirmed that despite geographical distance, the Vietnamese and Brazilian peoples boast long-standing friendship and have always supported each other, especially Brazil’s support for Vietnam during the fight for national independence in the past and present development efforts.

The Southeast Asian nation wishes to strengthen links with Brazil in a comprehensive manner and bring partnerships in economy, investment, trade, defence and security on par with the two sides’ political relations, he added.

At talks with First Vice President of Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies Marcos Pereira, Luu congratulated the country on its achievements and briefed his host about Vietnam’s socio-economic situation and external relations.

The official highly valued the sound relationship between the two parliaments while suggesting plans for stepping up cooperation.

He proposed Brazil consider becoming an observer of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) to boost cooperation with parliaments in ASEAN and Asia-Pacific.

The two sides highlighted the wish to intensify cooperation between their countries, including between the parliaments. 

They agreed that economic and trade ties have recorded encouraging outcomes in recent years with bilateral trade reaching 4.4 billion USD last year, but that has yet to match the expectations of both countries.

As Chairman of the Vietnam Peace Committee, NA Vice Chairman Luu met with Chairwoman of the Brazilian Centre for Solidarity with Peoples and the Struggle for Peace Sorroco Gomez, who is also President of the World Peace Council (WPC).

Luu said the Vietnam Peace Committee is preparing for celebrations of the WPC’s 70th founding anniversary (April 25, 1949). Meanwhile, Sorroco Gomez spoke highly of the active role of the Vietnamese committee – a WPC member, thanking the country for hosting the WPC Executive Committee’s meeting in 2017.

During their stay in Brazil, the Vietnamese delegation also had working sessions with head of the Labour, Administration and Public Service Committee of the Chamber of Deputies Professora Marcivania ; Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply Tereza Cristina; and the Brazil-Vietnam Parliamentary Friendship Group, which debuted in March this year.-VNA