While receiving a European Parliamentarian (EP) delegation in Hanoi on Tuesday, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung said the Vietnamese legislative body gives priority to developing ties with the EP. Chairman Hung made the statement at a meeting with the delegation led by Committee for Southeast Asia and ASEAN Relations Chairman Werner Langen, during which he also expressed his pleasure at the sound development of the relations between the Vietnamese legislature and the EP in politics, trade and investment.

The NA chief also said he hopes the bilateral meetings between the EP delegation and Vietnamese agencies will help deepen mutual understanding and strengthen relations between the NA of Vietnam and the EP and the European Union (EU).

Meanwhile, Chairman Werner Langen affirmed that the EP attaches importance to boosting ties with the Vietnamese legislative body. Largen said that he hopes that the two sides will continue to strengthen cooperation activities, especially in law building and international integration. The EP is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the EU. Together with the Council of the EU and the European Commission (EC), EP exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been considered one of the most powerful legislatures in the world. The Parliament is currently composed of 766 members, who represent the second largest democratic electorate in the world (after the Parliament of India) and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world (375 million eligible voters in 2009).