•  Vietnam, Thailand mark 35th anniversary of diplomatic ties

He said Vietnam and Thailand have continually promoted bilateral and multilateral relations in regional and international organisations, especially since Vietnam became a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1995. He noted that both sides have established a framework for extensive collaboration in politics, economics, trade, investment, culture, education, sports, tourism, defence, security, and people-to-people diplomacy, as affirmed in the Vietnam-Thailand Cooperation Framework signed in the early 21^st century.

Many cooperation agreements have been signed, laying a firm foundation for the relationship to grow.

Economic cooperation also recorded significant development recently with bilateral trade revenue reaching US$7.5 billion - up 21 percent compared to last year.

Thailand is now one of the 10 biggest foreign investors in Vietnam with US$6 billion invested in 230 projects in hotels, tourism, agriculture, processing, import, and export.

Thang expressed his belief that the favourable Vietnam-Thailand relationship will continue to grow and flourish as it is nurtured by both government and peoples.

In order to implement the Party and State’s foreign policy, the Vietnamese embassy in Thailand will spare no efforts in boosting the bilateral relations with the country in the hope of taking advantage of their potential and contributing to establishing an ASEAN community - especially the ASEAN Economic Community - by 2015.

He proposed both countries speed up the negotiation and signing process of an Agreement on Labour Cooperation, which will boost economic diplomacy, therefore benefiting both governments and peoples.

It is crucial to enhance bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the East-West Economic Corridor, the trans-Asian highway, the Greater Mekong Subregion, and the Ayeyarwady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy, as well as encouraging cooperation between the two countries’ localities, Thang said.

He also stressed that cultural and social similarities will be a basis for both countries to further build the close relationship between the peoples.

Various exchanges have offered good opportunities for Vietnam and Thailand to advertise tourism and seek business partners.

In addition, bilateral defence and security cooperation has also been strengthened on the basis of respecting each country’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, settling disputes through peaceful negotiations, not using or threatening to use force and not intervening in each other’s internal affairs.