Mr. Hue at the Vietnam-Austria Business Forum (Photo: VNA)
Speaking at the opening of the Vietnam-Austria Business Forum, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue said that Austria is the first country on the first foreign trip of Vietnamese senior leaders since the outbreaks of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.
Mr. Hue emphasized that this shows Vietnam's respect for economic cooperation with the European Union (EU) in general and the Republic of Austria in particular. Regarding trade relations, Austria has always been one of the important export markets of Vietnam and is currently in the group of five largest export markets of Vietnam in the EU. Bilateral trade turnover in 2020 reached US$3.2 billion, 13 times higher than in 2010 which is an impressive number amid the ongoing Covid-19 epidemic.
The National Assembly Chairman said that this result is still modest because it has not been commensurate with the potential and opportunities for cooperation between Vietnam and Austria. According to the President of the National Assembly, the two sides need to promote the exchange of extensive information on each country's investment-related policies, especially in priority areas for cooperation such as clean energy, infrastructure, telecommunications, digital economy, and biotechnology application.
On this occasion, he asked Austrian businesses to support the Austrian Government to provide vaccines and medical equipment to help Vietnam fight the Covid-19 epidemic.
At the meeting with IPU President Duarte Pacheco, Mr. Hue made three proposals for the IPU to become a more effective organization. It should carry out initiatives to innovate its operations to enhance the role of the IPU in current international affairs, especially to further develop the partnership between the IPU and the United Nations (UN) and ensure the common interests of member parliaments. Moreover, it can contribute to the development of world parliamentary diplomacy and strengthen multilateral cooperation.
Additionally, the IPU Secretariat should implement various tripartite cooperation projects between the member parliaments and the IPU and the UN to help them integrate further into international organizations’ activities, especially in poverty reduction, post-pandemic recovery, and sustainable development.
Mr. Hue expressed that Vietnam is ready to host symposiums at the request of the IPU, considering this an opportunity to both support the IPU and improve its international cooperation capacity and learn from others’ experiences.
IPU President Duarte Pacheco said he is willing to come to Vietnam’s capital city, Hani, to discuss the country’s initiatives, including symposiums and regional conferences on Sustainable Development Goals, young parliamentarians, or economic recovery between IPU general assembly sessions.
NA Chairman Hue also met Vietnamese Ambassadors to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Austria and Germany. He highly appreciated Vietnam's representative agencies abroad, including those in Europe, in implementing vaccine diplomacy, asking the ambassadors to continue to work hard by all means and all channels to bring more Covid-19 vaccines to the country.
He wished ambassadors should exert more efforts to seek more vaccine sources and remove all obstacles in procedures to bring vaccines and medical supplies home as fast and soon as possible,
At the meeting, the Vietnamese Association in the Czech Republic donated VND230 million (US$10,082) to support Ho Chi Minh City against the Covid-19 epidemic.
