Bucharest (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuchad a meeting with Liviu Dragnea, President of the Chamber of Deputies of theRomanian Parliament, in Bucharest on April 16 as part of his official visit tothe European country.

At the meeting, the two sides lauded the sound development ofthe traditional friendship and all-round cooperation between the two countriesover the years.

They agreed that the impressive development achievements ineach country alongside the shared strengths between the two sides have laid afirm foundation for them to continue boosting their ties in the time ahead,especially between the two parliaments.

PM Phuc thanked the parliament, government, and people ofRomania for their warm welcome, affirming that Vietnam always attaches greatattention to its partnership with Romania and lauding the contributions of Romania’sChamber of Deputies to the growth of bilateral relations.

He spoke highly of support from Romania, including the Chamberof Deputies, towards speeding up of the signing of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement(EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) in its roleas part of the current EU presidency. He also expressed his appreciation of bilateralpartnerships across all fields, and hoped to continue receiving Romania’ssupport in the future.

The Vietnamese Government leader suggested that Romania’sChamber of Deputies pay more attention to the promotion of high-level meetingsand exchanges, the sharing of experience between the two parliaments, andpartnership among localities of the two countries.

On the occasion, PM Phuc conveyed National AssemblyChairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan’s invitation to President of the Chamber ofDeputies Liviu Dragnea to visit Vietnam, who accepted it and pledged to makethe trip at a convenient time.

For his part, President of the Chamber of Deputies LiviuDragnea described the visit of PM Phuc as an important advancement in thebilateral relations. He stated that Romania’s Chamber of Deputies treasures theVietnam-Romania traditional friendship, while welcoming the positivedevelopments in bilateral parliamentary cooperation and affirming that thechamber completely supports the EVFTA and EVIPA, which are expected to besigned during the rotating EU Presidency of Romania.

He held that this is an important time for the strengtheningof bilateral cooperation in areas of each other’s potential and strength, suchas economy-trade, oil and gas, agriculture, education and labour, especially inthe sustainable management of water resources in the Mekong River and Danube subregions.

After the meeting, PM Phuc, his spouse, and the Vietnamesedelegation left Bucharest for Prague to start an official visit to the CzechRepublic at the invitation of its Prime Minister Andrej Babis. –VNA