Philippine President’s visit to promote strategic partnership with Vietnam

On this occasion, Philippine Ambassador to Vietnam Meynardo Los Banos Montealegre gave an interview to the media regarding the significance of the visit and prospects for bilateral relations in the time ahead.

Ambassador Meynardo Los Banos Montealegre conveyed the Philippine Government's thanks to the Vietnamese State, especially to President  Vo Van Thuong for inviting President Ferdinan Marcos to pay a state visit to Vietnam.

This represents a milestone in the Philippines-Vietnam bilateral relationship and will contribute to deepening the relationship between the two nations.

“In fact, President Marcos once met with a number of Vietnamese officials, but this is his first state visit to Vietnam. And the trip will help strengthen the relationship between the President and highest-ranking Vietnamese leaders.

The visit is also of great significance for enhancing the friendship and partnership between the two countries, in which the President's father, former President Ferrdinan Marcos, contributed to establishing bilateral relations in 1976,” he said.

Assessing the achievements that both nations have recorded during 48 years of cooperation and development, the ambassador this year the two countries celebrate the 48th anniversary of their diplomatic relations and over the next 2 years, they will celebrate another important 50-year milestone since the two countries established relations.

The two countries are set to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their strategic partnership. Over the past four decades, the partnership and friendly cooperation between Vietnam and the Philippines have seen positive developments, demonstrated through high-level visits by the heads of state and leaders, including the upcoming Vietnam visit by the Philippine President.

Both countries have also launched a broad array of ministerial level delegation exchange activities. They agreed to effectively carry out bilateral cooperation mechanisms at the 10th meeting of the Joint Committee on Bilateral Cooperation between Vietnam and the Philippines in August 2023, including the Joint Permanent Working Group on Maritime and Ocean Concerns, the Joint Sub-Committee on Trade, the Joint Working Group on Agriculture, and the Joint Working Group in Fisheries.

The two sides consented to speed up the building of an Action Program to implement the Strategic Partnership for the 2025-2030 period, strengthen defence-security cooperation, and strive to bring two-way trade turnover to soon reach US$10 billion in the coming time.

They were of the same mind about stepping up cooperation in other important fields such as agriculture, culture, tourism, education, transportation, science and technology, the environment, and people-to-people exchanges.

The two sides concurred to continue to coordinate and support each other at multilateral forums, especially at ASEAN and the United Nations.

“In general, the two countries have a very positive and good cooperative relationship. We are ready to cooperate closely with the Party, State, Government and people of Vietnam to make long-term contributions to the friendly cooperative ties between Vietnam and the Philippines,” the Philippine diplomat said.

Regarding expectations for this visit to further foster the Vietnam - Philippines strategic partnership,  the ambassador said this visit is an important milestone and will open up a wealth of opportunities for the two countries to further deepen their close-knit relationship.

“Although it is not possible to reveal in advance the agreements that will be reached, these agreements have been actively discussed by various agencies of the two sides. And certainly, the two countries will aim for a closer cooperative partnership for the benefit of their people, as well as for the peace and prosperity of the region," he continued.

In recent years, the two sides have held many consultations on important issues such as politics, economics and people-to-people diplomacy. All of these areas will contribute to advancing stronger bilateral relations in the coming years, he added

Meanwhile, assessing Vietnam’s current position in the region, Ambassador Montealegre said that the country has made plenty of contributions to the region.

The Philippines hails the great economic achievements that Vietnam recorded in 2023 despite many challenges in the global economy.
With "bamboo diplomacy", Vietnam has maintained firm diplomatic relations at the bilateral, regional, and international levels, which help affirm its role and protect its interests in the region, he emphasized.