1. At the invitation of His Excellency Vo Van Thuong, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, His Excellency Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr., President of the Republic of the Philippines paid a State visit to Vietnam from January 29-30, 2024.
2. During the visit, President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. attended the official welcoming ceremony and held talks with President Vo Van Thuong. The Philippine President also met with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue.
3. At the talks, the two Leaders highly appreciated the strong and substantive development of the Strategic Partnership between the two countries. Based on many similarities in views and interests between the two countries, the two Leaders agreed to strengthen and develop the partnership more deeply and comprehensively in the context of the two sides moving towards the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Strategic Partnership in 2025 and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2026.
President Vo Van Thuong and his wife with Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. and his wife.
4. The two leaders agreed to further enhance political trust, friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries through regular visits and contacts at all levels of the Party, State, Government, National Assembly, and people-to-people exchanges. The two sides pledged to promote existing bilateral cooperation mechanisms and effectively implement the documents signed between the two countries to enhance mutual understanding and trust.
5. The two Leaders supported the further deepening of economic relations and encouraged the implementation of joint cooperation initiatives between the two countries. They stressed the importance of increasing two-way trade and investment, including through effective utilisation of the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to promote integrated supply chains between businesses of the two economies.
The two leaders also agreed to cooperate closely to promote smooth trade flows to achieve the goal of increasing total bilateral trade turnover to 10 billion USD as soon as possible, as well as creating a favorable business environment for investors in areas of mutual interest.
The two Leaders also discussed potential areas of cooperation such as agriculture, especially rice trade and market access for agricultural products, food security, energy security, infrastructure development, education, transport management, innovation, tourism, connectivity, science and technology and environmental protection, among others.
6. The two sides acknowledged the strong momentum of cooperation in the fields of defense and security, which has actively contributed to strengthening the strategic cooperation between Vietnam and the Philippines.
Accordingly, the two Leaders agreed to: (i) continue to promote high-level visits, information sharing activities, education and training exchanges, and defense dialogue mechanisms; (ii) strengthen coordination in the defense industry as well as cooperation in military medicine, search and rescue, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), maritime and aviation security, counter-terrorism, cyber security, peacekeeping operations, among others; and (iii) strengthen law enforcement cooperation against transnational crimes, including cooperation in combating human trafficking, crimes and violations of the law related to gambling, illegal credit, illegal residence and labor, etc., as well as traditional and non-traditional security challenges, and called on relevant officials of the two countries to leverage each other's expertise and experience.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr.
7. The two Leaders agreed to strengthen existing maritime cooperation mechanisms, especially the Joint Committee on Sea and Ocean Affairs at the Deputy Foreign Minister level, the hotline between the coast guard forces of the two countries, among other mechanisms, and adopt other measures to ensure the security and safety of each other's fishermen as well as the peaceful resolution of incidents at sea.
8. The two leaders stressed the importance of enhancing cooperation in education, culture, tourism, healthcare, people-to-people exchange and cooperation between localities, as well as promoting the role of friendship organizations of the two countries to enhance cohesion and mutual understanding, promote connectivity and enrich cultural diversity, contributing to comprehensively enhancing relations between the two countries.
9. The two Leaders also spent time discussing many international, regional and sub-regional issues of mutual concern, including the situation in Myanmar and the East Sea.
The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining peace, stability and prosperity in the region, including promoting ASEAN Community building efforts through the full and effective implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and ASEAN Community Vision 2045, and supporting sub-regional cooperation, including the Mekong and BIMP-EAGA cooperation mechanisms.
Accordingly, the two leaders welcomed the effective cooperation between Vietnam and the Philippines in ASEAN and agreed to continue to strengthen cooperation, coordination and consultation with each other to respond effectively and promptly to regional and international issues of mutual concern, thereby contributing to strengthening ASEAN's solidarity and central role in ASEAN-led processes and mechanisms.
10. The two Leaders welcomed the close coordination and consultation as well as mutual support, including the candidacies of the two countries, at international organizations and multilateral frameworks, especially the United Nations (UN), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).
11. The two leaders stressed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, maritime safety, freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea. They called for the exercise of self-restraint in actions that may complicate or escalate disputes, affect regional peace and stability, and the avoidance of unilateral actions that could change the status quo and increase tensions, as well as the peaceful resolution of disputes, without resorting to the threat or use of force, in accordance with international law, in particular the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The two Leaders reaffirmed their commitment to fully and effectively implement the 2002 ASEAN-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and promote the early conclusion of negotiations on an effective and efficient Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC), consistent with international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS. In this regard, the two Leaders stressed the need to foster an environment conducive to COC negotiations.
12. During the visit, President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. and President Vo Van Thuong also witnessed the exchange of cooperation documents in various fields, including the Memorandum of Understanding on rice trade cooperation, the Memorandum of Understanding on prevention and management of incidents in the East Sea, the Memorandum of Understanding on agricultural cooperation and related fields, the Cultural Cooperation Program for the period 2024-2029 and the Memorandum of Understanding on maritime cooperation.
13. President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. thanked the Vietnamese leaders and people for the warm welcome extended to the Philippine delegation during their visit. On this occasion, the Philippine President also invited the Vietnamese leaders to visit the Philippines at a convenient time.
Phuong Anh (Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Source
Comment (0)