General Secretary To Lam receives the King of Belgium

General Secretary To Lam meets with Belgian King Philippe. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA

At the meeting, General Secretary To Lam welcomed the King and Queen and the high-ranking Belgian delegation to pay a State visit to Vietnam; highly appreciated the historical significance of the first State visit between the two countries since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1973; believed that the King's visit, accompanied by many high-ranking officials, business leaders, universities and research institutes, would create new momentum, bringing the friendship and multi-faceted cooperation between Vietnam and Belgium into depth, practicality and effectiveness, meeting the interests of the people of the two countries, contributing responsibly to peace, stability and sustainable development in the region and the world.

General Secretary To Lam highly appreciated the important contributions of the King and Queen of Belgium to all aspects of Belgian political and social life, including maintaining the unity in diversity of the Kingdom of Belgium; expressed his appreciation for the valuable support of the Belgian people for Vietnam in the past struggle for national independence, as well as the good feelings and personal contributions of the King and Queen of Belgium to Vietnam and the relationship between the two countries.

The General Secretary expressed his satisfaction with the positive development of the friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Belgium in recent times, with increasingly consolidated political trust, creating a foundation to promote cooperation in all fields. To match the potential and good political relations, the General Secretary emphasized that the two countries need to continue to deepen cooperation in the fields of trade - investment, sustainable agriculture, training of high-quality human resources, culture, tourism, people-to-people exchange, etc., while further promoting substantive cooperation in the fields of science - technology, innovation, especially sharing business development models from the Belgian university environment, contributing to helping Vietnam achieve its development goals by 2030 and 2045.

General Secretary To Lam meets with Belgian King Philippe. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA

King Philippe of Belgium sincerely thanked the General Secretary, senior leaders and people of Vietnam for their warm and respectful welcome; said that with similar geographical locations in the center of Europe and Southeast Asia, the two sides need to promote cooperation to become gateways for each other in each region; agreed with the General Secretary's assessment that the Vietnam - Belgium friendship over the past 50 years has developed very well and the two countries need to continue to cooperate closely to address global challenges such as climate change, environment, etc.

The General Secretary highly appreciated the team of Vietnamese experts trained in Belgium in recent years, who have actively contributed to the state management and economy of Vietnam; emphasized the need to facilitate tourism and trade between citizens of the two countries; and proposed that Belgium soon ratify the Vietnam - EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), contributing to creating a new wave of investment from the EU and Belgium into Vietnam and vice versa.

The General Secretary shared with the Belgian King about the efforts and achievements of Vietnam's socio-economic development and innovation over the past 40 years, including the support of international friends, helping Vietnam to take shortcuts and get ahead; Vietnam has entered the group of 35 largest economies and the group of 20 leading trading countries in the world. Belgian King Philippe expressed his impression of Vietnam's outstanding achievements in industrialization and modernization in recent years, which he witnessed firsthand when he visited Vietnam 4 times, the first time in 1994, and was proud that Belgium had contributed to Vietnam's socio-economic development.

General Secretary To Lam meets with Belgian King Philippe. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA

The Belgian King agreed with the General Secretary's proposal to increase delegation exchanges and contacts at all levels; promote the effectiveness of bilateral cooperation mechanisms; expand cooperation in potential areas such as education and training, defense, security, renewable energy, especially wind turbines, green hydrogen, health, environment, including overcoming the consequences of Agent Orange, which are areas in which Belgium has strengths.

The General Secretary stressed that Vietnam is a responsible member and is recognized by the international community, especially in maintaining peace, stability and cooperation in the region, including the East Sea. The two leaders agreed that Vietnam and Belgium need to coordinate closely at international and regional forums to promote multilateralism, the rule of law, and uphold international responsibility to address regional and global challenges.

VNA

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/tong-bi-thu-to-lam-tiep-nha-vua-bi-post409020.html