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| While in the Philippines, Deputy PM and FM Pham Binh Minh met with President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. (Photo: VNA) |
At the meeting, both Minh and Locsin highlighted the growingly intensive and
trustworthy political and diplomatic ties between the two countries, which were
reflected by contents and outcomes of visits and meetings at all levels and
through Party, State, Government, National Assembly channels and
people-to-people exchange.
Both expressed their delight at the enhanced and more practical cooperation in
national defence and security via the exchanges as well as sharing of
information and experience between the armed forces of the two countries, along
with regular defence policy dialogues and naval consultations.
The two sides agreed to step up collaboration in search and rescue operations at
sea and the fight against terrorists, pirates and cross-border crimes,
especially drug-related crimes.
They consented to take measures to enhance economic cooperation and create
optimal conditions for enterprises of the two countries to strengthen investment
and business partnerships, aiming to maintain annual two-way trade growth above
20 percent. In 2018, bilateral trade stood at 4.72 billion USD, up 18 percent as
compared with the previous year, they noted.
The Vietnamese side affirmed its willingness to be a long-term and stable
supplier of rice with competitive prices for the Philippines.
Having acknowledged great potential for tourism cooperation, the two ministers
consented to promote measures to encourage Vietnamese and Philippine tourists to
visit each other’s country in the time ahead.
They also lauded active progress in maritime and oceanic collaboration as well
as cooperation in agriculture, information-communications, environment,
education-training, culture, sports and people-to-people exchanges.
Regarding regional and international issues, Locsin congratulated Vietnam and
commended the country’s preparations for the second summit between the US and
the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in late February.
They meeting was of great significance to building trust and promoting practical
peace talks on the Korean Peninsula, he said, stressing that Vietnam has proven
its role and active contributions to regional and international matters.
The two sides also agreed to continue their close coordination at multilateral
forums and expressed their resolve to coordinate with other members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to enhance intra-bloc solidarity
and the grouping’s central role in regional security and strategic issues.
Vietnam highly evaluated and pledged to continue strongly backing the
Philippines’ role as a country coordinator of the ASEAN-China relations until
2021 while the Philippines side affirmed its support for Vietnam’s successful
assumption of the ASEAN Chairmanship in 2020.
The two ministers exchanged in-depth views on and shared their common concern
over recent developments in the East Sea.
They emphasised the strategic significance of ensuring peace, security and
safety of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, settling disputes peacefully,
practicing restraint, not complicating the situation, not militarizing,
respecting international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law
of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS) as well as legal and diplomatic processes, fully
implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and
soon reaching a practical and effective Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).
At the end of the session, Minh and Locsin signed the minutes of the meeting and
an action programme implementing the Vietnam-Philippines strategic partnership
for 2019-2024. They are important documents that serve as a foundation for the
two sides to continue fostering their cooperative strategic partnership in a
more practical and effective manner, including activities marking the fifth
anniversary of the strategic partnership in 2020 and the 45th founding
anniversary of diplomatic ties in 2021.
Later the same day, Minh met with President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, who emphasized
the importance of the Philippines-Vietnam strategic partnership and praised the
outcomes of the ninth meeting of the committee, considering this as a leading
mechanism to continuously beef up the bilateral cooperation for the sake of
people of both countries.
On this occasion, Minh visited and presented the Vietnamese President’s
second-class Labour Order to the Vietnamese Embassy in the Philippines in
recognition of its outstanding contributions to national construction and
defence.-VNA
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