During the visit, the two leaders witnessed the signing of various cooperative agreements, including a government-level agreement on energy cooperation, a memorandum of understanding on economic and trade negotiations between the two foreign ministries and a cultural cooperation programme in 2010-2012 between the Vietnam Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Argentina Ministry of Culture.

During their talks, PM Dung and President de Kirchner compared notes on bilateral relations and regional and international issues of common concern. They highlighted the importance of bilateral cooperation within international organisations and multilateral forums, particularly the United Nations and economic, trade and financial institutions.

The two leaders expressed their interest in promoting dialogues and cooperation on issues related to UN reform, the Doha talks and climate change. Both sides underlined the need to create a just, reasonable and more equal international order with more active participation from developing countries. The two leaders said that close cooperation between Vietnam and Argentina under the framework of South-South cooperation will help to raise the status of developing countries towards reaching the above-mentioned goals.

Vietnam and Argentina will celebrate the 37^th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic ties this year and in recent years, bilateral relations have seen rapid development in every strategic field. The two leaders praised the current mechanism for political consultation and dialogue as mentioned in the memorandum of understanding on economic and trade negotiations between their two foreign ministries.

Last year’s two-way trade turnover saw a four-fold increase over 2004. Economic cooperation between the two countries has successfully expanded in different fields, particularly agriculture, oil and gas and wind power. The two sides agreed to continue encouraging agencies and businesses to promote cooperation in trade and investment, especially the exchange of high value and high tech goods. In that spirit, both sides expressed satisfaction in signing letters of intent for cooperation between the Electricity Corporation of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group and Argentina’s IMPSA Group in developing wind power.

The two leaders praised the positive results of the second session of the Vietnam-Argentina Inter-Government Committee on Economics and Trade held in Buenos Aires in May last year. They agreed to continue regular sessions of this committee and asked ministries, sectors and relevant agencies to implement the signed agreements on economics, trade, investment, science, technology, education, training, nuclear energy, agriculture and culture in 2010-2012.

They also praised the Vietnam-Argentina group of members of parliament in the Argentine Lower House and the operations of legislative bodies, socio-political organisations and localities in both countries.

President de Kirchner informed PM Dung about her government’s recognition of Vietnam as a market economy in line with the agreements signed with the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The two sides agreed the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) is an important entity for dialogue and cooperation. Vietnam congratulated Argentina on its re-election as a coordinator in Latin America and praised its role in promoting FEALAC process to encourage cooperation between East Asia and Latin America.

Vietnam, as ASEAN Chair, and Argentina, as rotary Chair of MERCOSUR, expressed their willingness to enhance dialogue and cooperation between the two groups in the fields of trade, investment, energy security, food, agriculture, transport and environmental protection.

Argentina spoke highly of the dynamic development and important role of ASEAN in the international arena and affirmed its determination to strengthen relations between MERCOSUR and ASEAN. Argentina also acknowledged ASEAN’s interest in G20 activities.

Both sides agreed that territorial disputes should be settled based on international law and the issue of the Malvinas archipelago should be deal with through negotiations in line with UN resolutions.

The Argentine President once again congratulated PM Dung on Thang Long-Hanoi’s 100^th anniversary celebration and PM Dung conveyed congratulations from the Vietnamese Government and people to their Argentine counterparts on the 200^th anniversary of the May Revolution, a landmark in the history of Argentine people’s struggle for national independence.

PM Dung thanked the President, the Government and the people of Argentina for their hospitality towards his delegation and invited President de Kirchner to visit Vietnam at her convenience. Mr Dung’s invitation was accepted with pleasure and the future visit will be arranged through diplomatic channels.