• Taking Vietnam-Philippines relations to a new level

The two foreign ministers expressed satisfaction at the positive development of friendship and cooperation between the two countries in various fields and agreed to ask their respective ministries to speed up the implementation of agreements reached by President Truong Tan Sang and Philippine President Beningo S. Aquino III at their talks on October 26 with a view to taking bilateral relations to a higher level.

Both foreign ministers praised the outcome of the sixth session of the Vietnam-Philippines Bilateral Cooperation Committee held in Hanoi on October 6-7 while saying that the newly-signed Vietnam-Philippines Action Program for 2011-2015 will serve as an important foundation for carrying out specific cooperation programs.

They agreed to assign senior officials of the committee to promote exchanges and hold meetings in the Philippines next year.

The Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs welcomed the decision to put in place mechanisms to widen bilateral cooperation on the sea and ocean to the deputy foreign ministerial level, asking committee members to meet by early next year.

Regarding cooperation at regional and international forums, the two foreign ministers affirmed that they will continue closely coordinating the upcoming summit meetings of ASEAN in Indonesia, accelerating building an ASEAN community and supporting the East Asia Summit (EAS) which discusses regional strategic issues related to economics, politics and security in the spirit of mutual respect, mutual trust and mutual understanding, and cooperation for peace and stability in South Asia.

In terms of the East Sea issue, both foreign ministers highlighted the need to maintain peace, security, navigation safety and freedom, and settle disputes by peaceful means based on the International laws, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) signed by China and ASEAN in 2002.