Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh meets with King Philippe of Belgium

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and King Philippe of Belgium. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

Welcoming the first State visit to Vietnam by the King and Queen, along with a high-ranking delegation from Belgium since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1973, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh recalled the impressions and good results of the official visit to Belgium in December 2022; believing that this visit to Vietnam by King Philippe will create momentum, bringing the friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Belgium to new heights, and political trust will be increasingly consolidated, for the benefit of the people of the two countries, for peace and stability in the region and the world.

King Philippe of Belgium sincerely thanked Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh for his affection and support for Belgium in particular and the Vietnam-Belgium relationship in general, as well as the warm welcome that the Party, State and people of Vietnam gave to the King and Queen personally and the high-ranking Belgian delegation.

Sharing his impressions of Vietnam's remarkable socio-economic development achievements in recent years, the Belgian King believes that Vietnam will develop further and successfully achieve its development goals by 2030 and 2045.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh meets with King Philippe of Belgium during his State visit to Vietnam. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

The Prime Minister and the King of Belgium expressed their satisfaction with the good development of the friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Belgium over the past 50 years; agreed on the need to continue to deepen cooperation in traditional fields such as economy, culture - arts, tourism, and cooperation between localities; and actively and more effectively implement the contents of the Strategic Partnership on agriculture to respond to non-traditional challenges such as climate change, natural disasters, and epidemics.

King Philippe highly appreciated Vietnam's role and position in the region, wishing to deepen the bilateral relationship in the fields of education - training, healthcare, seaports, green energy, science - technology and innovation...; agreed to create conditions for businesses of the two countries to increase investment and business activities in Vietnam and Belgium.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh thanked the Belgian Government for its valuable support to Vietnam in its national construction and development; and hoped that Belgium would soon have a specific project to implement the Resolution to support Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange, which was passed by the Belgian Parliament in October 2023.

To continue accompanying and effectively contributing to Vietnam's rise in the "new era", the Prime Minister suggested that the two countries should further promote substantive cooperation in areas where Belgium has strengths and Vietnam has needs such as high technology, circular economy, strategic infrastructure, human resource training, etc.; at the same time, he suggested that Belgium soon ratify the Vietnam - EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) and urge the EC to soon remove the IUU yellow card for Vietnamese seafood.

The two sides agreed to increase delegation exchanges and contacts at all levels and through Party, Government and National Assembly channels; step up coordination activities between ministries and sectors of the two countries; effectively promote existing bilateral cooperation mechanisms; facilitate people-to-people exchanges and cooperation; and promote the bridging role of the Vietnamese community in Belgium, as well as the Belgian community in Vietnam.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh meets with King Philippe of Belgium. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

The two leaders agreed that Vietnam and Belgium need to coordinate closely at international and regional forums to promote multilateralism and the rule of international law, as well as address global challenges. Regarding the East Sea, the two sides affirmed the importance of ensuring security, safety, and freedom of navigation and aviation in the region; and peacefully resolving disputes in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

On this occasion, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh respectfully invited Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever to visit Vietnam to continue promoting cooperation between the two countries.

VNA

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/thu-tuong-pham-minh-chinh-hoi-kien-nha-vua-vuong-quoc-bi-philippe-post409026.html