National Assembly delegation pays working visit to Germany

In Frankfurt, Vietnamese delegates worked with Hesse Minister of Culture, Education, and Opportunity Armin Schwarz, exchanging experiences in educational development.

Schwarz introduced the delegation to the local DigitalTruck project that disseminates digitisation knowledge and promotes related applications in primary schools as well as German language programmes for immigrants, including those from Vietnam.

Delegation head Nguyen Dac Vinh, Chairman of the NA Committee for Culture and Education, said prioritising youth education to build a high-quality workforce serving its national industrialisation and modernisation, Vietnam wants to step up cooperation with Germany in the field.

In Berlin, the delegation had a working session with Deputy Secretary General of the Bundesrat (federal parliament) Georg Kleemann to discuss law-making activities and the promulgation of legal documents for institutional improvements serving development. They were also hosted by Chairwoman of the Germany-ASEAN Parliamentary Friendship Group Gabriele Katzmarek. Vinh, as the head of the parliamentary friendship group between Vietnam and the European Parliament, proposed the two countries increase delegation exchanges across the Party, State, parliament, and people-to-people channels, while maintaining their existing cooperation mechanisms.

He expressed his hope that the German side will further support and encourage local enterprises to expand their investments and businesses in Vietnam. He also called on Katzmarek to advocate for the German parliament to expedite the ratification of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA).

His other proposals to the German side included promoting the European Commision’s early lifting of a yellow card warning imposed on Vietnamese seafood and assisting Vietnam’s access to financial sources and technologies for energy transition, green economy, and circular economy development, and climate change response.

Agreeing with the Vietnamese legislator, Katzmarek said Vietnam and Germany should also beef up their joint work in labour and vocational training given the latter’s ongoing severe labour shortage. German partners highly value Vietnamese caregivers currently working in the country's healthcare sector, she noted.

The delegation also visited the Vietnamese Embassy to give updates on Vietnam’s socio-politico-economic affairs and hear the ambassador’s proposals for better legal work targeting the overseas community.