Promoting the traditional friendship between Vietnam and Mongolia to new heights

VOV.VN - At the invitation of Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, this morning (September 30), General Secretary and President To Lam and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation left Hanoi for a state visit to Mongolia.

This is the first State visit to Mongolia by a Vietnamese President in 16 years, right on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Vietnam and Mongolia are two traditional friends, and the people of the two countries have a long-standing close relationship. The two countries officially established diplomatic relations on November 17, 1954. Mongolia was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam and Vietnam was the first country in Southeast Asia with which Mongolia established diplomatic relations.

General Secretary and President To Lam (Photo: VNA)

Over the past 70 years, the friendly relations between the two countries have been continuously consolidated and developed strongly. Political, diplomatic, security and defense relations have developed positively. The two countries have achieved high political understanding and trust and given priority to developing relations.

The two sides have regularly promoted high-level and all-level visits, most notably the visit to Mongolia by President Ho Chi Minh (July 1955) and the visit to Vietnam by the First Secretary of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party and Chairman of the Council of Ministers (September 1959), which laid a solid foundation for the development of bilateral relations. Notable visits to Mongolia include the official visit of President Tran Duc Luong (2000); Prime Minister Phan Van Khai's visit (1999) and official visit (2004); official visit of President Nguyen Minh Triet (2008); official visit of National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Van An (2003); and recently the visit to Mongolia by Minister of National Defense Phan Van Giang (October 2023) and the State visit to Vietnam by Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh (November 2023); At the same time, the two sides regularly implement bilateral cooperation mechanisms, including the political consultation mechanism at the level of Deputy Foreign Ministers. The two sides have signed the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation three times (1961, 1979, 2000) and provided each other with selfless and transparent assistance. In particular, the Government and people of Mongolia have provided Vietnam with both material and spiritual support in the struggle for national liberation and reunification. Mongolia is a country that strongly and deeply supports Vietnam in both material and spiritual terms in the movement for national independence and liberation. Today, the two countries regularly help and support each other in the process of protecting, building and developing the country, maintaining close cooperation through Party, State, Government channels and people-to-people exchanges. Cooperation in various fields has been actively implemented by the two countries and achieved many substantive results. Economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries has been strongly promoted, creating certain impressions. Trade promotion and business connection activities are regularly organized in various forms, creating conditions for businesses of both sides to expand relations and seek cooperation and investment opportunities. Bilateral trade turnover has increased 2.3 times in the past time from 4 million USD in 2017 to 85 million USD in 2022 and reached 132 million USD in 2023. In the first 7 months of 2024, bilateral trade turnover reached 65.5 million USD. The main items exported by Vietnam to Mongolia are agricultural products, food, coffee, pharmaceuticals, beer, some types of modern medicine, wooden household goods, electronic components, computers, phones, garments, handicrafts... The two countries' senior leaders have signed many cooperation agreements, such as: Memorandum of Understanding on economic and trade cooperation in 2021; Memorandum of Understanding on cultural cooperation in 2022; Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of immigration management; Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of agriculture in 2022... The two countries coordinate and support each other at regional and international forums such as the United Nations, UNESCO, the Non-Aligned Movement, the ARF Regional Forum, ASEM...; Mongolia highly values ​​the good traditional relationship between the two countries and wishes to promote the existing potential to strengthen and promote the increasingly deep relationship in all fields such as economy, trade, investment, agriculture, education, culture, labor, security, defense, etc. Since 1979, Vietnam and Mongolia have held 18 meetings of the Intergovernmental Committee, promoting strong bilateral cooperation. Cultural, tourism, educational and people-to-people cooperation have all made progress, notably the two sides signed a visa exemption agreement for citizens of each country holding ordinary passports (November 2023), contributing to enhancing people-to-people exchange activities between the two countries. A notable activity was in 2009, when Vietnam and Mongolia installed a statue of President Ho Chi Minh and opened the Ho Chi Minh Cultural Center at High School No. 14 named after President Ho Chi Minh in the capital Ulanbator. The cultural and social connection throughout the history of the relationship between the two countries has helped the people of the two countries understand each other better, unite and bond. Over the past 70 years of establishing diplomatic relations, the traditional friendship between the two countries has been constantly consolidated and developed in the context of many fluctuations in the international and regional situation. Vietnam consistently values ​​and wishes to further deepen the traditional friendship with Mongolia. Mongolia, in turn, highly values ​​its relationship with Vietnam, considering Vietnam its most important partner in the Southeast Asian region. The visit of General Secretary and President To Lam to Mongolia aims to continue implementing the foreign policy of the 13th National Party Congress, affirming the consistent policy of the Party and State to always attach importance to friendly relations and cooperation with traditional friends, including Mongolia; wishing to promote the relationship with Mongolia in depth, substance and effectiveness.

Vov.vn

Source: https://vov.vn/chinh-tri/thuc-day-quan-he-huu-nghi-truyen-thong-viet-nam-mong-co-len-tam-cao-moi-post1124952.vov