Top legislator pays official visit to Iran

The visit takes place at a time when the two countries are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations. It aims to enhance bilateral cooperation in the fields of politics - diplomacy, economy, culture, education, science-technology and local cooperation, as well as to strengthen cooperation between the legislative bodies of the two countries.

Iran and Vietnam established diplomatic relations on August 4, 1973. The cooperative relations between the two counties have developed positively over the years through regular high-level visit exchanges.

In 2021, two-way trade turnover between the two countries reached US$124.5 million, up 43% compared to the previous year. Bilateral trade fetched more than US$100 million in 2022 and US$21 million in the first quarter of 2023. During the October 2016 visit to Vietnam by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the two sides agreed to create all favourable conditions for their business communities, striving to raise bilateral trade turnover to US$2 billion as soon as possible.

Cooperation between the two legislative bodies has also yielded positive results. Vietnamese National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and Iranian Consultative Assembly Speaker Ali Ardeshir Larijani had many meetings and exchanges at the third meeting of Speakers of Eurasian Countries’ Parliaments held in Antalya, Turkey, in 2018 and on the sidelines of the 140th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU-140) in Doha, Qatar, in 2019.

Later reciprocal visits by leaders of their legislative bodies, including a Vietnam visit in 2018 by Speaker Ali Ardeshir Larijani, demonstrated the close friendship and cooperation between the two countries.