Mr. Khiem made the comments during a reception for Filipino Deputy Foreign Ministry Enrique Manalo in Hanoi.

The same day, Deputy Foreign Minister Dao Viet Trung, and Deputy Minister Manalo co-chaired the Vietnam-Philippines Joint Committee Senior Officials Meeting.

At the meetings, the two sides expressed delight at the development of bilateral friendship and multi-faceted co-operation in various fields, particularly in politics, trade, investment, education, and training and security and national defence.

They discussed measures to boost co-operation between the two countries and agreed to organise the sixth meeting of the joint committee in Hanoi next year.

They also discussed regional and international issues of common concern, particularly co-operation within the ASEAN framework when Vietnam assumes the role ASEAN’s President in 2010.