PANO – On the morning of March 14th (local time), a warm and solemn reception at the highest-level for statesmen was held for President Truong Tan Sang and his entourage at Saadabad Palace in Tehran, Iran.
After the official reception and in the friendly atmosphere, President Truong Tan Sang had talks with Iranian President Hasan Rouhani at his presidential palace.
The Iranian President warmly welcomed President Truong Tan Sang’s visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran, considering it a significant event to open a new stage in the bilateral cooperation. The visit took place at a time when Iran is preparing to observe its traditional New Year holiday.
President Truong Tan Sang showed his joy of visiting Iran for the first time just when the country had gained strong support from countries in the world.
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| President Truong Tan Sang and Iranian President Hasan Rouhani |
The two State Presidents then stressed that Vietnam and Iran share many similarities and people of the two countries have been supporting each other. This is a solid foundation for the development of relations. The two officials expressed joy over development of the fine Vietnam-Iran traditional friendship and relationship. The Vietnamese official hailed the spirit and efforts of the Iranian people in the cause of socio-economic development over the past time.
Meanwhile, the Iranian President confirmed that the people of Iran have respected for the strong will of Vietnam during the country’s resistance wars for national independence as well as the industriousness of the Vietnamese people in the current national construction and development. President Hasan Rouhani stressed that both countries had undergone wars and sanctions and they should further enhance cooperation to reach the shared targets for the interest of the two peoples.
As for bilateral relations, President Truong Tan Sang and President Hasan Rouhani agreed to increase delegation exchange and high-ranking meetings and to boost sharing views over international and regional issues and support each other at international forums, especially at the United Nations and Non-Aligned Movement.
The two countries have yet to fully tap their socio-economic cooperation potential due to a number of issues, including sanctions imposed on Iran. In the coming time, as the sanctions are removed, the two countries agreed to boost economic, trade, and investment cooperation, setting the target for the two-way trade value at US$2 billion in the next five years.
To reach the target, the cooperation agreement signed between the State Bank of Vietnam and the Central Bank of Iran will serve as the foundation to speed up trade and investment cooperation. The two sides also pledged to provide favourable conditions for each other’s enterprises in doing business in such potential areas as commerce, agriculture, aquaculture, industry, energy, telecommunications, automobile manufacturing, electricity production, tourism, and others.
Apart from economic and investment cooperation, the two officials also pointed out that there should be more cooperation in education, culture, and people-to-people exchange, and increase exchange of experts, research students, and university students between the two countries. The host highly appreciated the fact that a number of universities in Vietnam offer Arabian language courses, hoping that Iran-study courses would also be opened in the coming time.
To provide a legal framework for the multifaceted cooperation, the two officials agreed to promote negotiation and soon sign cooperation documents in finance, animal protection and quarantine, the information and communications sectors, and more.
The two presidents then discussed international issues of common concern such as terrorism, border and territorial disputes. The Vietnamese official showed his support for the initiative “World against Violence and Extremism” initiated by Iran. The two sides agreed to closely cooperate in actively maintaining world peace and stressed that all disputes must be settled by peaceful means with respect for international law.
On this occasion, President Truong Tan Sang invited President Hasan Rouhani to visit Vietnam and the host agreed with pleasure.
In the afternoon of the same day, President Truong Tan Sang paid courtesy calls to the Speaker of the Iranian National Consultative Assembly and the Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran, and visited the Vietnamese Embassy in Tehran.
Translated by Huu Duong
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