To Lam meets top Canadian legislators

The top Canadian legislators hailed the significance of the Vietnamese leader's visit and the two countries' recent decision to elevate their ties into a Strategic Partnership, opening a new chapter in Viet Nam-Canada ties.

They highly valued the contributions of the more than 275,000 Vietnamese Canadians across fields including science and technology, business, the arts, sports and community activities.

To Lam, for his part, said under the newly-established Strategic Partnership framework, parliamentary cooperation will become an important pillar of the bilateral relations, contributing to strengthening political trust, creating a legal foundation and promoting the effective implementation of high-level agreements.

The two sides should increase the exchange of delegations, particularly between parliamentary leaders, specialized committees, friendship parliamentarians' groups, women parliamentarians and young parliamentarians, he proposed.

Both sides should also step up the sharing of experience in legislation and oversight, as well as coordination at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the Francophone Parliamentary Assembly (APF), the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) and other multilateral parliamentary forums, the guest suggested.

Regarding economic, trade and investment cooperation, To Lam urged the two sides to make economic cooperation a focus and driving force of bilateral relations, and make more effective use of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to facilitate Vietnamese exports, particularly agricultural, forestry and fisheries products, in accessing the Canadian market.

Viet Nam welcomes and stands ready to facilitate Canadian investment in promising areas such as energy, green economy, circular economy, green hydrogen and e-commerce, he stated.

Regarding defense and security, the Vietnamese leader expressed his hope that the Canadian Parliament would support efforts by the two sides to strengthen cooperation in combating various types of crime, enhance law-enforcement capacity and gradually develop appropriate cooperation frameworks.

He called on the two countries to create new momentum in areas where Canada has strengths and Viet Nam has needs, including science and technology, innovation, clean energy, the green economy, high-quality human-resource training, the defense industry and aviation.

The two nations should also continue to effectively implement development cooperation, particularly support for workforce training, small and medium-sized enterprises, gender equality, poverty reduction, climate change response and food security, underlined the guest.

To Lam placed particular emphasis on expanding education and training cooperation, diversifying exchange and scholarship programs for Vietnamese students, and focusing on high-quality human-resource training.

The guest suggested that the Canadian Parliament continue to closely work with the Vietnamese National Assembly at regional and international parliamentary forums and support the peaceful settlement of disputes in the East Sea on the basis of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

He called on Canada to support Viet Nam in its roles as CPTPP Chair in 2026, APEC host in 2027 and ASEAN Chair in 2030./.