President Truong Tan Sang on June 28 met with Speaker of the Indonesian
House of Representatives Marzuki Alie as part of his two-day visit to
the country.
At the meeting, President Sang congratulated
Indonesia on its recent achievements, especially in maintaining a
high economic growth rate, looking towards sustainable development and
successfully implementing the “Master Plan on the Acceleration and
Expansion of Indonesia’s Economic Development” for the 2011-2015 period.
The Vietnamese State leader briefed his host on the
outcomes of his talks with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, during
which the two sides agreed to officially upgrade Vietnam-Indonesia
relations to a strategic partnership.
For his part, Indonesian
Speaker Marzuki Alie considered the establishment of the
Vietnam-Indonesia strategic partnership an important milestone in the
two countries’ relationship.
The Indonesian Parliament will
work with the Vietnamese National Assembly to form the Indonesia-Vietnam
Friendship Parliamentarians Group, he affirmed.
Host and guest noted with pleasure the fruitful developments in the relationship between the two countries.
Both agreed that the exchange of experience in legislative work as
well as the promotion of negotiations and signing of an agreement
between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Indonesian Senate will
create a full legal foundation for cooperation between the two
legislative bodies in particular and the two countries in general.
On the same day, President Sang visited the headquarters of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and met with ASEAN
Secretary General Le Luong Minh.
The President underlined the
need for ASEAN to increase intra-bloc links and regional connectivity,
actively contributing to enhancing a peaceful and stable environment for
mutual development.
Vietnam will contribute to joint
efforts to promote links and the building of the ASEAN Community in a
proactive and responsible manner, he affirmed.
He voiced the
country’s support for further increasing the role and capacity of the
ASEAN Secretariat as the group is accelerating cooperation towards the
establishment of the ASEAN Community.
In the presence of
representatives of ASEAN member countries, partners and guests, the
Vietnamese State leader affirmed Vietnam ’s consistent policy and
responsible contributions for a united and strong ASEAN community.
He urged ASEAN member countries to make greater efforts to finalise
the ASEAN Community by 2015 and continue to raise its voice in issues
regarding peace and security in the region in order to promote the
central role of the ten-member group.
It is necessary for ASEAN
to maintain its traditional identity and firm stance while flexibly
coping with unexpected problems as the regional and international
situation ceaselessly changes, with both opportunities and challenges,
he noted.
President Sang highlighted the group’s primary
orientations with priority given to mobilising the highest political
resolve and necessary resources for the successful building of the ASEAN
Community by 2015 and the group’s further development in the next
decades.
ASEAN needs to adopt a wider vision for its long-term
development following the formation of the ASEAN Community, which is
expected to be realised by December 31, 2015, as the event is a
milestone and a starting point, he said.
The President
emphasised the need for ASEAN to maintain its dynamic development
momentum and uphold the strength of an economic community of 600 million
people with gross domestic product of 2.1 trillion USD.
He
applauded ASEAN’s efforts to expand and deepen economic, trade and
investment ties, combine free trade agreements with its member countries
and build a free trade agreement of the East Asian region.
“We
back the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)’s targets
to create an open economic space in East Asia , which makes up nearly
half of the world’s population and one third of the global GDP,” he
said.
In addition, ASEAN needs to continue bringing into full
play its role in regional cooperation frameworks such as the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Asia-Europe Meeting
(ASEM), he added.
President Sang said ASEAN should further
promote its active role in ensuring an environment of peace, security
and development in the region.
Maritime security, safety and
freedom in the East Sea is an important and mutual concern of the
region, he said, urging ASEAN to take an active part in building and
making the best use of joint principles as stated in the Declaration on
the Six-point Principles on the East Sea.
These include
dialogue promotion, trust building, peaceful settlement of disputes in
respect of international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea and the early establishment of a Code of Conduct in
the East Sea.
Travelling with ASEAN over the past 18
years, Vietnam always defines itself as an active, proactive and
responsible member that tries its best to contribute to the continuous
development of ASEAN.
ASEAN will continue to be one of the
important pillars in Vietnam ’s foreign policy of openness,
diversification and multilateralisation of relations, and active
international integration, he said.
During his stay in
Indonesia, President Sang met with the country’s leading businesses that
operate in the fields of aviation, oil and gas, coal, rice, property,
food and pharmaceuticals.
He heard the Indonesian businesses’
assessment on cooperative opportunities between the two countries in an
array of areas.
Many of them suggested Vietnam improve its
investment environment with breakthrough measures on administrative
procedures, tax and investment promotion.
The President called
on the two countries’ Government agencies and business communities to
collaborate with other countries and partners on the basis of mutual
benefit and development of each country and the region.
Vietnam always attaches importance to and creates every favourable
condition for foreign investors, he said, calling on foreign investors,
including those from Indonesia , to continue expanding their
operations in his country, he affirmed.
Meeting with Vietnamese
Embassy staff, he urged diplomats to make greater efforts in
implementing guidelines and policies of the Party and State, especially
in the context of the newly-established strategic partnership between
Vietnam and Indonesia.
President Sang and his entourage returned home later in the day, successfully concluding his State visit to Indonesia.-VNA