Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh on July 1 continued to
have bilateral talks with his counterparts of Singapore, Malaysia, Timor Leste, Bangladesh, Mongolia and Australia, and the
Vice President of the European Commission/ High Representative of the EU
for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
The
meetings took place on the sidelines of the 46th ASEAN Ministerial
Meeting (AMM-46) in Brunei’s capital, Bandar Seri Begawan .
Talking with his Singaporean counterpart K. Shanmugam, Minister Minh
congratulated Singapore on the success of the Shangri-La Dialogue
which was held in the country on May 31, while Shanmugam highly valued
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s attendance and his important speech at
the event.
The Singaporean guest announced that Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong will visit Vietnam in September, and the
two countries will sign a statement on establishing a Vietnam-Singapore
strategic partnership on the occasion.
The two
ministers agreed that besides the sound political relations, both
countries need to continue maintaining their successful collaboration in
economics, trade and investment.
Meeting with
Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, Minister Minh affirmed that
Vietnam treasures and hopes to improve the friendship and multifaceted
cooperation with Malaysia.
Both sides expressed
their pleasure at the positive developments in their cooperation in
economics, trade and investment, and hope to soon organise the fifth
meeting of the Joint Committee on economic, scientific and technological
cooperation.
Minister Minh expressed his hope that
the Government of Malaysia will continue creating favourable conditions
for overseas Vietnamese labourers, contributing to the two sides’
economic development.
At a meeting with Timor Leste’s
Foreign Minister Jose Lui Guterres, Minh congratulated the country on
its recent achievements, especially in economics.
The
two ministers said they hope to increase bilateral cooperation in a
wide range of fields, particularly in oil and gas, agriculture, tourism,
information technology and telecommunications.
Receiving Bangladesh’s FM Dipu Moni, FM Minh applauded the country’s
achievements in the socio-economic field, people’s improved living
standards and external relations over the past time.
The two FMs agreed Bangladesh and Vietnam need to increase the
exchange of high-ranking visits and seek out solutions to exploit each
country’s potential effectively.
FM Moni said his
country wants to become ASEAN’s full dialogue partner and join regional
cooperation and linkage mechanisms such as the East – West
Economic Corridor a nd the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC).
At a meeting with Mongolia’s FM Luvsanvandan Bold, FM Minh and FM
Bold said the Mongolian President’s visit to Vietnam scheduled for
later this year will be a milestone in the sides’ ties.
The two FMs agreed to work together closely to implement practical
measures to mark the 60th anniversary of Vietnam-Mongolia diplomatic
ties and expand development cooperation for each country’s mutual
benefit.
In a separate meeting, FM Minh and
Australia’s FM Bob Carr expressed their pleasure with the positive
development of Vietnam-Australia comprehensive partnership, especially
in the context of various activities conducted to mark the 40 th
anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
FM Minh and the Australian diplomat said the two sides need to
continue delegation exchanges to enhance trust and mutual understanding
and step up cooperation in the fields of education, science and
technology.
At Minh’s meeting with Catherine Ashton, who is
Vice-President of the European Commission and the EU’s first High
Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the two
officials were content with the Vietnam-EU ties’ positive development,
especially since the two sides signed the Partnership and Cooperation
Agreement (PCA) in June last year.
FM Minh asked the EU
and its member countries to speed up the approval process to bring the
PCA into effect as soon as possible.-VNA