Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with Speaker of the Shura Council (Consultative Assembly) of Qatar Hassan bin Abdulla Al-Ghanim in Doha on October 31 as part of his official visit to the Middle Eastern country, according to a report from the Vietnam News Agency.

At the meeting, the Speaker believed PM Chinh’s visit will harvest significant results, creating new impetus to help further expand and intensify the friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries.

He congratulated Vietnam on its major socio-economic achievements and also expressed his admiration for the country’s revolutionary history, which has inspired nations around the world.

The Speaker stated that the Shura Council hopes to advance cooperation with the National Assembly of Vietnam to assist the two governments to promote the productive and substantive implementation of cooperation commitments and plans for the sake of the two countries' people.

PM Chinh, for his part, lauded the Shura Council and the Speaker’s contributions to the implementation of Qatar National Vision 2030, which has maintained political stability, boosted socio-economic development, and preserved and promoted cultural and historical values of the country.

The Vietnamese leader affirmed that cooperation between the two countries has been growing fast for the last more than 30 years since the establishment of their diplomatic ties, with numerous positive results such as deeper political trust, strong growth in economic, trade and investment partnerships, and increased mutual support at multilateral forums.

However, he held that there remains enormous room for both sides to further foster the bilateral collaboration, particularly in such areas as economy, trade, investment, energy, and agriculture, to match the sound political relationship as well as each country’s potential and advantages.

Highlighting Qatar’s proud successes in economic development along with the successful hosting of the FIFA World Cup 2022 and the recent Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), the PM said Vietnam can learn much from Qatar in terms of mindset, vision, and measures for national development.

To further develop the Vietnam - Qatar friendship and cooperation for the sake of the two nations' people, the two leaders agreed to continue promoting the role of parliamentary diplomacy and step up cooperation between their parliaments through mutual visits by leaders of the two parliaments and their specialized committees to share legislative and supervisory experiences.

The two sides also agreed to maintain the two parliaments’ close coordination to reinforce cooperation between the group of Arab parliaments and the group of Asian parliaments at inter-parliamentary forums like the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). Besides, they will promote exchanges between young and female parliamentarians.

The Speaker recommended the two sides to soon establish a parliamentary friendship group between the two countries to frequently share opinions and propose measures for strengthening bilateral parliamentary ties.

He also called on the parliaments of Vietnam and Qatar to work together in supporting the just struggle by the Palestinian people and the two-state solution.

Meanwhile, PM Chinh asked the two parliaments to coordinate closely to support the effective implementation of bilateral cooperation mechanisms, advocate the upgrade of the two countries’ relations to a new height, prioritize collaboration in economy, trade, investment and energy, and perfect policies and agreements, especially the free trade agreement, to help tighten businesses’ connections and people-to-people links.

On this occasion, he conveyed National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man’s regards and invitation to the Speaker to visit Vietnam in the near future.

The Qatari Speaker also sent his regards to Mr. Man and other high-ranking leaders of Vietnam. He appreciated and accepted the invitation with pleasure.