President Gul congratulated Vietnam on becoming an official member of CICA and praised Vietnam’s initiatives and contributions to the CICA summit. He applauded Vietnam’s position in ASEAN and expressed his hope that as ASEAN president, Vietnam will help Turkey strengthen its co-operative ties with ASEAN and support Turkey when it signs ASEAN's Treaty of Amity and Co-operation.

He asked Ms Doan to convey an invitation to President Nguyen Minh Triet to visit Turkey.

Ms Doan congratulated Turkey on successfully holding the third CICA and assuming the CICA presidency. She said that as CICA president, Turkey will play well its role at the forum in the future and contribute to building a peaceful, stable and co-operative environment in Asia.

Ms Doan said that both countries have the potential to boost co-operation, especially in economics, trade, education and tourism and that Vietnam is keen to develop bilateral co-operative ties. The possibility of signing an agreement on avoiding double taxation and an agreement on promoting and protecting investment in the near future will be an important prerequisite for both countries to boost co-operation in every field.