Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Tran Thanh Man met with Speaker of the Federation Council of Russia’s Federal Assembly Valentina Matviyenko in Istanbul, Türkiye, on April 17 on the sidelines of the 152nd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU-152).
Chairman Man lauded Russia’s major achievements in socio-economic development, with the Federal Assembly playing a crucial role in creating a favourable legal framework for the country’s stable and sustainable development.
He affirmed Russia is a reliable partner, and that developing the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Russia is one of the top priorities in Viet Nam's foreign policy.
He also emphasised the increasing importance of parliamentary cooperation to strengthening the political and legal foundation and promoting all-round collaboration between the two countries, helping elevate relations across all fields as in line with the spirit of the message sent by Party General Secretary and State President To Lam to President Vladimir Putin.
The top legislator of Viet Nam proposed that both sides deepen political and diplomatic connections, as well as parliamentary cooperation, through delegation exchanges, high-level meetings through various channels, and the successful organisation of a visit to Viet Nam by the Speaker of Russia’s Federation Council and a trip to Russia by the NA Chairman to co-chair the 5th session of the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee in 2026.
The Vietnamese NA will promote legislative and supervisory activities to create a legal framework facilitating the implementation of strategic cooperation agreements between the two countries, he went on, expressing confidence that both countries’ parliaments and their members can play a direct role in promoting and implementing cooperation in such areas as people-to-people exchanges, tourism, twinning activities, and locality-to-locality ties.
For her part, Matviyenko congratulated Viet Nam on the successful elections of the 16th NA and key positions to lead the country into a new era of development. On behalf of the Russian leadership, she also congratulated Man on his election as Chairman of the 16th NA.
Describing Viet Nam as Russia's most reliable partner in Southeast Asia and voicing delight at the elevation of ties to a new level, she stated that the Russian parliament will continue to make positive contributions to reinforcing relations between the two countries.
The Speaker noted many Russian localities are currently establishing and ready to set up sister city relationships and cooperate with Vietnamese localities. They are also updating existing local cooperation agreements in accordance with the adjustments to administrative boundaries in Viet Nam.
Besides the strategic areas of cooperation, Matviyenko suggested the two sides step up collaboration in energy – oil and gas, and nuclear power while also paying due attention to humanistic cooperation, people-to-people exchanges, education and training, tourism, and cultural ties to enhance mutual understanding between their peoples.
At the meeting, both sides noted with satisfaction the continued enhancement and development of the traditional friendship and Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Viet Nam and Russia in multiple fields, with a high level of political trust. They highly valued the maintenance of mutual visits at all levels between the two parliaments, along with the close coordination at multilateral parliamentary forums such as the IPU.
They expressed their belief that the strategic dialogue mechanism between the two parliaments and the dialogue between the two governments will be further strengthened; and affirmed the commitment to continue accelerating the early renewal of the cooperation agreement between the two parliamentary friendship groups.
On this occasion, Chairman Man affirmed that the Vietnamese NA is ready to welcome the Speaker of the Federation Council on an official visit to Viet Nam, considering it an important milestone in the cooperation between the two countries' parliaments. The Russian leader said she expects this visit will help foster ties between the two parliaments and the two countries in an increasingly effective and sustainable manner.
