Hoang Binh Quan, Head of the Party Central Committee's Commission for External Relations on October 25 received Singaporean Minister of Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan, who visited Vietnam for the first time as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The Singaporean Minister spoke highly of the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

He expressed his pleasure at the achievements in the Vietnam-Singapore cooperation in the past years and stressed that the two sides always maintain trustworthy political ties via contacts and exchanges of high-ranking delegations.

 Hoang Binh Quan, Head of the Party Central Committee's Commission for External Relations (R) hosting Singaporean Minister of Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan

Effective economic cooperation has been a motive for bilateral ties as evidenced by the development of seven Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks in 20 years, Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said, adding that Singapore attached importance to promoting ties with Vietnam in all fields in the spirit of the strategic partnership.

On the East Sea (South China Sea) issue, the Minister affirmed Singapore has practical interests in ensuring the freedom of maritime and over-flight navigation and wished all sides to observe international law and bring ASEAN’s role into play to turn the East Sea into an area of peace and friendship.

For his part, Quan appreciated the comprehensive developments in the relationship between the two countries in recent years, including the training of officials for the Communist Party of Vietnam with the new agreement signed for the 2017-2019 period.

He recommended the two countries to actively implement signed agreements, use cooperation mechanisms efficiently, and promote comprehensive cooperation with attention paid to exchanges of high-ranking delegations.

The two countries should further promote cooperation in trade, investment, education, and training and cooperation on international and regional multilateral forums, especially within ASEAN and relevant mechanisms, to make the strategic partnership deep, practical and suitable with wishes and benefits of people of the two countries, contributing to peace, stability and cooperation in the region.

Regarding the East Sea issue, Quan highly valued Singapore’s consistent, responsible position on the issue.

He wished Singapore, as a coordinating country for the China-ASEAN relationship, will continue making contributions to boosting the China-ASEAN relationship and push for the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and talks to soon sign a Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea to make the sea an area of peace, cooperation and development.

Source: VNA