Vietnamese National Assembly members discussed measures to enhance collaboration between the US state of Massachusetts and Vietnamese localities during meetings in the state yesterday.
At a meeting with Massachusetts Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung said he enjoyed his visit to Massachusetts, where late President Ho Chi Minh lived in the early 20th century while researching how to save his country.
Hung said he aimed to reinforce and propel the two countries' relations forward, especially when it came to parliamentary ties. He also said he believed high-level visits between the two sides would create strong bilateral co-operation across the board.
Hung urged Rosenberg to continue to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese people, especially students, who wished to live in the state; support the establishment of Fulbright University Viet Nam; and facilitate education and research co-operation between the two nations.
Rosenberg said that with strengths in finance, tourism, education and training, Massachusetts was willing to collaborate with Viet Nam on those fields. The two sides were expected to increase effective co-operation in economy, trade and investment on the grounds of mutual understanding and common goals to tighten co-operative ties.
Massachusetts would create optimal conditions for local and Vietnamese businesses to explore investment co-operation opportunities, he said.
During a meeting with Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Robert A. DeLeo, National Assembly Chairman Hung spoke about outcomes of the recent World Conference of Speakers of Parliament in New York.
The two leaders exchanged ideas to elevate co-operation between Viet Nam and the US on education, trade and investment.
They agreed to increase delegation exchanges, promote trade and share legislative experiences.
While visiting Harvard University on the same day, the top Vietnamese lawmaker expressed his admiration at the world-famous university, which had trained a lot of global leaders, economists and business leaders such as President Barack Obama, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, former president George Bush and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Speaking with the university's leaders, experts and researchers, Hung said Viet Nam and the US were seeing enormous new co-operation opportunities that need to be optimised.
He said he hoped Harvard would increase scholarships for Vietnamese students and continue sharing its experiences with Vietnamese universities.
Experts from Harvard's Viet Nam Programme said they were willing to share their know-how and help Viet Nam build economic management and development policies.
They said they thought the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement would be adopted soon, and recommended that Viet Nam place special focus on improving businesses' operational capacities, especially private ones, to help them adapt to the new TPP economy.
They also said Viet Nam's development achievements amid regional and global economic crises were a firm foundation for the local economy to maintain its stability and continue to grow.
They suggested Viet Nam expand investment attraction, develop new industries and push ahead with negotiations to reach the signing of international economic agreements.
During his stay, Hung visited the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, which is home to around 1,000 overseas students, including many from Viet Nam.
