Foreign ministries of Vietnam, China strengthen cooperation

During the trip, Vu had meeting with Chinese Executive Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ma Zhaoxu, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and Secretary General of the Steering Committee for China - Vietnam Bilateral Cooperation Nong Rong, and Chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency Luo Zhaohui.

At the events, the two sides applauded the sound development of relations between the two Parties and two countries since the official visits to China by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in November 2022 and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in June 2023.

They agreed to continue enhancing coordination to step up the implementation of high-level common perceptions, work closely together to prepare for coming high-level exchanges and meetings.

They also plan to increase exchanges and cooperation between the Parties, Governments, parliaments, and between the Vietnam Fatherland Front and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, as well as in defence, security and law enforcement; promote connections in economy-trade, transport, tourism, and people-to-people ties; and coordinate to tackle difficulties and obstacles to bilateral cooperation.

Vu asked the two sides to work with each other to take measures for boosting economic recovery, especially facilitating customs clearance and the export of Vietnamese farm produce to China.

He called on the Chinese side to create conditions for the early establishment of Vietnam’s trade promotion offices in Chengdu city of Sichuan province and Haikou city of Hainan province. They will also expand cooperation and address prolonged bottlenecks in some cooperation projects, actively coordinate to speed up the implementation of China’s non-refundable aid packages for Vietnam, and foster tourism partnership to record more positive progress in the coming time.

Talking about cooperation between the two foreign ministries, both sides agreed to maintain frequent meetings between the ministries’ leaders and discussions between corresponding units, enhance cooperation at multilateral forums, and share experience in economic and cultural diplomacy.

Deputy Minister Vu asked China to provide favourable conditions for Vietnam to open a consulate general in Chongqing early.

The two sides also openly and frankly shared opinions on border and territorial issues, proposed concrete measures for coordination in land border management and for the timely settlement of issues emerging on the basis of serious adherence to the common documents on land border. The neighboring countries plan to step up the opening, upgrade and recognition of some border gate pairs to bolster ties in economy-trade, tourism, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

They also agreed to continue serious compliance with the high-level common perceptions and the agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of sea-related issues, properly control sea-related differences, and jointly maintain peace and stability in the East Sea.

The Vietnamese official underlined the demand for respecting the rights and legitimate interests of coastal countries in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)