Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh on July 31 paid a courtesy visit to
Philippine President Benigno Aquino III on the occasion of his visit
to the Philippines to co-chair the 7th session of the
Vietnam-Philippines Bilateral Cooperation Committee.
At the
meeting, President Aquino III said his country always attaches
importance to its friendship and multi-faced cooperation ties with
Vietnam, both as neighbours and ASEAN members. He expressed pleasure
at the robust development of the ties over the past time, especially
Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang’s Philippines visit in 2011 and
his visit to Vietnam in 2010.
The Philippine president
applauded the effective work of the bilateral cooperation committee,
adding that the 7th session will be a success with the careful
preparations of both sides, helping expanding and deepening the
bilateral ties in the coming time.
He also suggested the two
countries’ foreign ministers seriously review and timely address
remaining issues relating to the bilateral cooperation ties in order to
ensure the scheduled implementation of the Vietnam – Philippines
Action Plan for the period 2011-2016 as well as agreements to
be reached at this time’s session.
For his part, FM Minh
briefed the Philippine president on outstanding outcomes in bilateral
cooperation since the previous session, especially in the fields of
politics-foreign relations, economics-trade-investment, sea-ocean, and
agro-fishery.
The Vietnamese minister said he believes the two
sides will put forth many measures to expand cooperation to new fields
in line with both sides’ potential.
He also expressed his wish
that President Aquino III will direct Filipino relevant agencies to
settle cases of detained Vietnamese fishermen and ships on the
basis of humanitarian spirit and the fine bilateral ties between the
two countries.
Discussing matters on the East Sea, the two
sides upheld the principles of ASEAN on ensuring peace, stability,
security, and maritime safety and freedom, settling disputes by peaceful
means in conformity with international law, especially the 1982 United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, carrying out seriously the
Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC)
and ASEAN’s Declaration on Six-point Principles on the East Sea, and
advancing towards the early building of a Code of Conduct in the
East Sea (COC).
On this occasion, FM Minh conveyed Vietnamese leaders’ invitations to President Aquino III to visit Vietnam.-VNA