NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue arrived in Montevideo, starting official visit to Uruguay. (Photo: VNA)

The NA Chairman was greeted at the airport by high-ranking officials of the host country, and Vietnamese Ambassador to Argentina and Uruguay Duong Quoc Thanh.

Hue is scheduled to hold talks and meet with high-ranking leaders of Uruguay, sign a cooperation agreement between the two law-making bodies, attend a number of activities marking the 30th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between the two countries, and witness the signing of cooperation documents of a number of authorities and localities.

His visit is affirming the message that Vietnam attaches importance to the fine relations and wish to push up economic, trade and mutually beneficial cooperation with Latin American countries, including Uruguay; boost the possibility of the launch of negotiations on the Vietnam – Mercosur free trade agreement; and start the trip that follow President Ho Chi Minh’s journey (Montevideo is where the late leader came to in 1912 after leaving Vietnam in 1911).

Vietnam and Uruguay established diplomatic relations on August 11, 1993. The bilateral relations of friendship and solidarity are manifested through the mutual support in the past national liberation and the current national development.

Two-way trade increased to over 100 million USD in 2019 from 27 million in 2007. Under the COVID-19 pandemic impact, the value decreased slightly but increased 89.7% in 2022 over that in 2021, with a total of 175.1 million USD.

The Vietnam-Uruguay parliamentary relations were strengthened through the visit by Speaker of the Chamber of Representatives of Uruguay Anibal Pereyra in January 2015.