Mexico City (VNA)🅘 – Vietnamese Ambassador to Mexico Le Linh Lan met with Mexican officials at the embassy’s headquarters in Mexico City on July 14 to discuss ways to enhance the countries’ relationship.

Ambassador Lan and local officials, including Claudia Sofia Corichi – a member of the Chamber of Deputies from the Citizens’ Movement party and new Chairwoman of the Mexico-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Group, looked into measures to foster bilateral relations in a more substantive and effective manner in such spheres as politics, diplomacy and culture. They emphasised economic partnership, as the two countries have set up a joint committee on economic-trade-investment cooperation, and both are now signatories to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. The participants agreed to promote mutual visits between their parliamentarians this year and consider publishing a book on milestones in over 40 years of the countries’ diplomatic ties. They also agreed to consider pairing the two capital cities, Hanoi and Mexico City, and holding a Vietnam Culture Week in Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies. At the meeting, the Mexican officials expressed their interest in The Hague tribunal’s ruling on the Philippines’ lawsuit against China’s unfounded territorial claims in the East Sea. They said the verdict is important to not only relevant countries and security in the region, but also to Mexico, which has an increasing volume of trade via the East Sea with East Asian nations. Meanwhile, Ambassador Lan emphasised that Vietnam supports the peaceful settlement of disputes on the basis of international law.-VNA