Vietnam, Chile look towards stronger comprehensive partnership

At the talks, on behalf of the State and people of Vietnam, President Tran Dai Quang extended his sincere thank to President M. Bachelet for her nation's solidarity, valuable support for Vietnam and important contributions to the two countries' relations during the past four decades.

He highly appreciated the Chilean Government for the close cooperation and positive support for Vietnam in hosting the APEC 2017 Meeting and the 25th APEC 2017 Economic Leaders' Week in Danang.

President M. Bachelet extended her sympathy to the leaders and people of Vietnam over huge human and property losses caused by typhoon Damrey and the recent floods in central Vietnam.

The two State leaders shared the view that the comprehensive partnership between Vietnam and Chile over the years has continued to see positive development in a multitude of areas highlightedwith their closer and more trustworthy political relations.

Two-way trade growth surged 30-40% annually, especially after the Bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was signed in November, 2011 and came into force on January 1, 2014.  Last year's bilateral trade reached US$1.1 billion, up more than 2 times compared to 2013 and hit close to US$960 million in the first nine months of 2017, up 29% over the same period last year.

The two countries have also maintained close cooperation and mutual support at international organizations and multilateral forums. On this occasion, President Tran Dai Quang thanked the Chilean Government for its early support for Vietnam's candidacy for the UN Security Council for 2020-2021.

The two leaders agreed that both sides will continue promoting the exchange of delegations at all levels and regularly maintain mechanisms such mechanisms as the bilateral free trade council and political consultation at the deputy foreign ministerial level.

The two countries will also work closer to finalize a legal framework for bilateral cooperation and create the best possible conditions for their businesses to access the respective markets. 

At the same time, they will establish trade and investment ties in agro-fishery production and processing, high-tech agriculture, mining, bio-technology and climate change response, while facilitating export and import of farm produce. 

They concurred to step up collaboration in culture, science-technology, education-training, tourism and other aspects.

The two sides agreed to step up their collaboration at international organisations multilateral forums, especially the UN, the World Trade Organisation (WTO), APEC, negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement and the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC), along with promoting cooperation between ASEAN and the Pacific Alliance (AP) in an effective and pragmatic manner. 

Regarding regional and international issues of shared concern, the two Presidents voiced their support for settling sovereignty and territorial disputes by peaceful measures on the basis of respect for international law, particularly the UN Charter and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), as well as diplomatic and legal processes. 

President Bachelet invited President Quang to pay a State visit to Chile in the time to come and her invitation was graciously accepted.

Following their talks, the two Presidents signed the Vietnam-China joint statement and witnessed the signing of bilateral cooperation agreements, including a Governmental-level memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in caring children and adolescents who are Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin victims in Vietnam; an agreement on income activities for relatives of diplomats and employees of consulates, representative offices and international organisations; and a MoU on cooperation between the two countries’ academies of diplomacy.

They then met with the press to inform outcomes of their talks during which, President Quang said priority will be given to tapping potentials and strengths of the two sides in agro-forestry-fishery, construction, biotechnology, mining, climate change adaptation, culture, science-technology, education-training, and tourism.
He hailed the signing of bilateral cooperation agreements on external affairs on the occasion of the Chilean President’s State-level visit to Vietnam from November 8-9.

He thanked the Chilean President and Government for actively accelerating the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on taking care of children, especially the Agent Orange (AO)/Dioxin victims in Vietnam, as well as supporting Vietnam’s candidacy to the UN Security Council in the 2020-2021 tenure and its hosting of the APEC Year 2017, including the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week in Da Nang.

Jeria accentuated the significance of the bilateral free trade agreement which came into force from 2014, making Vietnam one of the biggest trade partners of Chile.

The two countries have also recorded important achievements in studying and applying technologies relating to rice cultivation to promote food production in Chile.

The MoU on cooperation in the field of children and adolescents is extremely important to Chile and marks the strong commitments of the two countries to child protection, especially those seriously affected by Agent Orange/Dioxin, she said.

The President used this occasion to thank Vietnam for supporting Chile to join the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), affirming Chile’s desire to become a dialogue partner of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) to share experience in ensuring security in the Asia-Pacific region.

Also the same day, President Quang hosted a banquet in Hanoi for President Bachelet and her delegation.