The legislative bodies of Vietnam and Indonesia have signed a co-operation agreement defining orientations and measures to bolster their co-operation in particular and bilateral ties in general.

The agreement was inked by Nguyen Phu Trong, National Assembly Chairman of Vietnam, and Marzuki Alie, Speaker of the Indonesia House of Representatives, during their talks in Jakarta on March 1.

NA Chairman Trong emphasised that the Vietnam-Indonesia ties, including legislative relationship, were established for a long time which have been growing in all fields and that Indonesia , as one of the founders of ASEAN and AIPA, has an important say in Southeast Asia and the world as well.

“Vietnam always regards Indonesia as an all-round and strategic partner”, the NA Chairman said, expressing thanks for Indonesia’s constant support and assistance to Vietnam in both bilateral and multilateral scopes.

He suggested increases in contacts and visit exchanges between legislative organs, especially the committees for external relations and offices, as a way to ratchet up co-operation between the two legislative bodies.

NA Chairman Trong also proposed that the two sides continue co-ordinating closely and sharing experiences on multilateral parliamentary forums.

He said he believed Indonesia’s co-operation and assistance would help Vietnam to perform its ASEAN and AIPA Chair in 2010 successfully.

The Indonesian Speaker described NA Chairman Trong’s visit to Indonesia as a vivid manifestation of the growing ties between the two countries and their legislative bodies.

He said he believed with the new co-operation agreement and defined guidelines for future co-operation the two legislative bodies’ ties will grow strongly.

The Indonesian Speaker also took the occasion to call on Vietnamese businesspeople to invest in Indonesia and pledged to co-ordinate with relevant Vietnamese agencies to facilitate businesses’ partnership.

Later, NA Chairman Trong met with Chairman of the Indonesian People’s Consultative Assembly Taufik Kiemas, who expressed hope that the growing legislative ties would help promote the two countries’ economic co-operation.

They touched upon the opening of a direct flight route between the two countries to create favourable conditions for expanding bilateral ties further.

The same day, Chairman Trong, who is also President of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), received AIPA General Secretary Antonio V. Cuenco and ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan on separate occasions.

The AIPA President and General Secretary agreed to boost co-ordination in implementing AIPA’s resolutions and organising several important events in the year that Vietnam holds the AIPA.

Antonio V. Cuenco pledged to closely co-operate with the National Assembly of Vietnam to successfully organise AIPA activities in 2010.

Speaking to the ASEAN Secretary General, Trong stated that while ASEAN has an increasingly important role in the region and the world, it needs to boost co-operation inside the bloc as well as the ties with its partners. He expressed his wish that the ASEAN Secretary General and the Secretariat would help Vietnam to play well the role of ASEAN Chair and AIPA Presidency in 2010.

Surin Pitsuwan praised Vietnam’s preparations for ASEAN activities in its capacity as the grouping’s Chair. He pledged to look to build good co-operative ties with AIPA Secretariat and Vietnam, contributing to boosting solidarity, co-operation and development in the region. (VNA)