Mr Boris Batura had a meeting with the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

     On 14 May 2010 Mr Boris Batura, Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, had a meeting with Mr Nguyễn Minh Triết, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Other participants of the meeting were Mr Vladimir Ivanov, Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, Ms Antonina Morova, Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic for Education, Science, Culture and Social Development, Mr Yevgeny Smirnov, Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic for Legislation and State Administration, Mr Vitaly Busko, member of the Standing Committee of the House of Representatives for International Affairs and Ties with the CIS, Head of the working group of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus on cooperation with the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and Mr Pavel Utyupin, member of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic for Foreign Affairs and National Security, Deputy Head of the mentioned working group.

     The sides discussed the development of Belarus-Vietnam political dialogue, particularly bilateral parliamentary interaction, and the intensification of trade and economic cooperation.

     The Chairman of the Council of the Republic noted the symbolism of the fact that the visit took place in the year of the 65^th anniversary of the Victory over fascism in the Great Patriotic War and the 35^th anniversary of South Vietnam liberation and the reunion of the Vietnamese people. He underlined that the parliamentarians of Belarus and Vietnam contributed a lot to the development of interstate links. Our country is grateful for Vietnam’s constant support in the international arena.

     Mr Boris Batura underlined the importance of the Joint Declaration signed by the presidents of the Republic of Belarus and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. This document reflects the similarity of the two countries’ positions on international and bilateral relations and reaffirms the intention for gradual strengthening of friendly ties between Belarus and Vietnam.

     The Chairman of the Council of the Republic emphasized the necessity to intensify trade and economic cooperation between the two countries and welcomed a number of documents signed in order to facilitate the development of Belarusian-Vietnamese contacts in the spheres of agriculture, security, finances and labour resources.

     The President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in his turn highly appraised the Belarusian pace of social and economic development and the level of political dialogue between the two countries. He noted the successful and active development of the two states’ links in the political sphere and their close cooperation in the international arena.

     Mr Nguyễn Minh Triết underlined the interest in comprehensive development of trade and economic cooperation with the Republic of Belarus. He also noted that a target of raising the bilateral goods turnover up to USD 1 billion had been set during his meeting with the President of the Republic of Belarus. In addition to that he emphasized the importance of improving the legal basis of trade and economic links and proposed to consider signing an agreement on the free trade zone between Belarus and Vietnam.

     The sides also discussed a wide range of issues of mutual interest during the meeting.