At her talks with visiting Vice President of the German Bundestag Bodo Ramelow in Ha Noi on June 16, Thanh stressed that the visit coincided with the 15th anniversary of the Viet Nam-Germany Strategic Partnership, helping reinforce political trust, enhance mutual understanding and generate fresh momentum for cooperation between the two countries and their legislatures.
The Vietnamese legislator commended Ramelow for his positive contributions to Viet Nam-Germany relations, particularly cooperation between Viet Nam and the German state of Thuringia during his tenure as Minister-President.
Thanh noted that Viet Nam's NA has adopted a number of important laws and resolutions aimed at improving institutions, removing bottlenecks and creating new drivers for socio-economic development, while continuing to innovate its legislative and supervision activities.
Reaffirming that Viet Nam highly evaluates Germany's role and standing in Europe and globally, she expressed her satisfaction with the continued positive and comprehensive development of the Strategic Partnership across a wide range of fields. Political and diplomatic ties have been strengthened through high-level visits and exchanges, while trade and investment remain important drivers of the bilateral relations. Cooperation in science and technology, defence and security, education and training, labour, people-to-people exchanges and local partnerships has also expanded steadily.
She urged Germany to continue encouraging remaining European Union (EU) member states to swiftly ratify the EU-Viet Nam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), while supporting the early removal of the European Commission (EC)'s warning against seafood exports from Viet Nam due to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
Thanh proposed stronger cooperation in science and technology, biotechnology, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, alongside expanded collaboration in defence and security and United Nations peacekeeping operations. She also called for the signing of government-level agreements on labour cooperation and vocational education, as well as broader programmes to develop high-quality human resources.
Thanh reaffirmed that Viet Nam's NA attaches great importance to and wants to further strengthen cooperation with the German Bundestag. She suggested increasing exchanges among parliamentary leaders, specialised committees, friendship parliamentarian groups, young legislators and female lawmakers, while sharing experience in legislation and supervision and stepping up coordination at regional and international parliamentary forums.
Viet Nam stands ready to serve as a bridge to promote relations between the German Bundestag and the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), the NA Vice Chairwoman added.
For his part, Ramelow affirmed that Germany regards Viet Nam as one of its priority and increasingly important partners in Southeast Asia. He expressed admiration for Viet Nam's development achievements and strategic orientation in the new era, while welcoming the positive progress in the Viet Nam-Germany Strategic Partnership, in which parliamentary cooperation plays an important role.
The German Bundestag Vice President agreed with Thanh's assessments and proposals on the bilateral relationship, noting that German businesses remain highly optimistic about the prospects for Viet Nam-Germany trade and investment relations and see this as the beginning of a new chapter marked by abundant opportunities for practical cooperation.
Ramelow also pledged to continue promoting Viet Nam-Germany relations, particularly in vocational training, higher education, high-quality workforce development and people-to-people exchanges, while strengthening cooperation between the two legislatures to help make the Strategic Partnership more practical and effective in the years ahead.
Both sides agreed to continue enhancing political trust and maintaining high-level exchanges and contacts through Party, State, Government and parliamentary channels.
They also pledged to effectively deploy cooperation mechanisms, strengthen links between Vietnamese localities and German states, and coordinate closely at multilateral forums, thus contributing to peace, stability and development in their respective regions and around the world.
