The two foreign ministers agreed that the political and diplomatic ties between the two countries have developed intensively, reflected in the contents and results of visits and meetings at all levels through the Party, State, Government, National Assembly channels and people-to-people diplomatic activities.
On this occasion, the host extended an invitation to visit the Philippines to General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong. The Vietnamese deputy prime minister also conveyed the invitation to visit Vietnam of Vietnamese leaders to Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.
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Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (R) and Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Lopez Locsin. Photo: VOV |
Both sides expressed joy over the increasingly substantial defense-security cooperation via exchanges and sharing of information and experience between the militaries of the two countries, along with defense policy dialogue and naval consultation mechanisms. They agreed to step up coordination in search and rescue at sea and prevention of terrorism, piracy and trans-border crimes, especially drug crimes.
They stressed measures to enhance economic cooperation and provide favorable conditions for enterprises of the two countries to strengthen investment and business partnerships with an aim to maintain the growth rate of the annual bilateral trade value of 20% or more (in 2018, the bilateral trade value reached USD 4.72 billion, increasing by 18% compared with 2017).
Discussing regional and international issues, the host congratulated Vietnam and highly appreciated its organization of the second DPRK-US summit, saying that the summit played an important role in promoting substantial negotiation for peace on the Korean Peninsula and Vietnam has played an increasingly active role in dealing with regional and international issues.
The two sides confirmed that they would continue to closely cooperate at multilateral forums and resolutely coordinate with other ASEAN members to boost the central role of ASEAN in dealing with strategic and security issues of the region. Vietnam highly appreciated and backed the Philippines as the coordinator of the ASEAN-China relations until 2021. The Philippines affirmed its support for Vietnam as ASEAN chair in 2020.
They then exchanged concerns over the recent developments in the East Sea (South China Sea), stressing the strategic significance of ensuring freedom, security and safety of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, the settlement of disputes by peaceful means, the respect for international law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS 1982) and legal and diplomatic processes, and the full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and the future Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) when reached.
At the end of the meeting, the two sides signed the minutes of the meeting and an action program on the implementation of the Vietnam-Philippines strategic partnership for the 2019-2024 period.
* In the afternoon the same day, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh met with Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. The Philippine President stressed the importance of the Vietnam-Philippines strategic partnership and highly appreciated the results of the ninth meeting of the commission, considering it a leading mechanism to boost the bilateral cooperation intensively, for the sake of the two peoples.
Translated by Huu Duong