Prime Minister’s visit lifts Viet Nam-ASEAN ties
Ha Noi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s official visit to five member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which wrapped up on August 16, has helped define the key areas for the cooperation between Viet Nam and these countries.The PM has affirmed the success of his visit in an interview with the Viet Nam News Agency after he returned home on August 16.
The interview runs as follows:
Q: Could you talk about the goals and the significance of your visit to five ASEAN member countries?
A: I headed a high-level delegation of the Vietnamese government to pay an official visit to Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar and Brunei from August 8-16, 2007 at the invitation of leaders from these countries. The visit was of a great significance which is demonstrated in the following major points:
Firstly, this was my first visit in the capacity as prime minister and also a visit made according to ASEAN’s normal practice, which was aimed at fostering friendship and cooperation with leaders of ASEAN countries.
Secondly, the visit was aimed at affirming Viet Nam’s foreign policies of further placing importance on developing cooperative relations with neighbouring and regional countries, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar and Brunei, after our country held the 10th National Party Congress and the 12th National Assembly election.
Thirdly, this was an opportunity to discuss measures to boost cooperative relations between Viet Nam and the five countries, particularly in the areas of economics, trade and investment; bilateral ties-related issues; and regional and international issues of mutual concern.
Q: Would you please elaborate on the results of the visit?
A: My visit to the five ASEAN countries this time has achieved positive results. The leaders of these countries and I had entered open and frank discussions about measures and orientations to promote bilateral as well as multilateral ties in the spirit of mutual trust and understanding.
All the leaders and political circles of these countries spoke highly of Viet Nam’s rapid and sustainable development in all fields.
During this visit, Viet Nam signed seven cooperation agreements at governmental level with these countries, including an action plan for the 2007-10 period with the Philippines and a Memorandum of Understandings on cultural cooperation with Indonesia and the Philippines.
There were also an agreement on trade promotion cooperation with the Philippines, an agreement on double taxation avoidance and a Memorandum of Understanding on physical training and sports cooperation with Brunei.
Besides, Vietnamese businesses and their partners from the host countries inked a series of cooperation agreements in the fields of oil and gas, credit, tourism and urban construction.
I also received many delegations from leading businesses of ASEAN countries and took part in many forums between businesses from Viet Nam and those from the countries I visited. Most businesses from ASEAN countries expressed their wish to cooperate with Viet Nam in commerce and investment. As a result, Vietnamese businesses signed contracts worth billions of USD during this visit.
I believed that the results of this visit would act as an impetus to boost the friendship and multi-faceted cooperation between Viet Nam and these countries in the near future.
Q: Could you speak about the direction for developing the bilateral relationship between Viet Nam and each of the five ASEAN countries after the visit?
A: During the visit, leaders of the five ASEAN countries and I discussed and reached several agreements on the direction for boosting the relationships in the coming time.
Regarding Indonesia, the two countries’ leaders emphasised the necessity of strengthening the comprehensive, long-term and stable cooperation between the two countries. The two sides agreed to entrust their ministries and branches to build an action programme to continue implementing the Viet Nam-Indonesia Joint Statement on Friendly and Comprehensive Cooperation in the 21st Century. In this spirit, the two leaders agreed to raise the bilateral relationship to a new height for peace, stability and development, in order to create a momentum for the comprehensive development of both Viet Nam and Indonesia.
Regarding the Philippines, the two sides signed a 2007-2010 action programme to implement the Joint Statement on Cooperation in the first years of the 21st century. The action programme specifies a series of key cooperative fields such as politics, security-defence, economics-trade, forestry-fishery, tourism, health, culture and education, and science and technology. The implementation of the action programme is considered the focus of the cooperation between the two countries in the coming time.
In regard to Singapore, the future direction for cooperation is to continue implementing the Joint Statement on Comprehensive Cooperation in the 21st century and the Framework Agreement on Viet Nam-Singapore Connection. Accordingly, the two sides will establish a joint steering committee which is responsible for speeding up the implementation of Singaporean projects in Viet Nam. The two sides are also considering expanding their connection beyond the six pledged fields of finance, investment, trade-service, transport, post and telecommunication-information technology, and education and training, to also cover port-entrepot and urban infrastructure development. Singapore pledged to help Viet Nam build an English teacher training centre.
With regard to Myanmar, the two countries’ leaders agreed to strengthen the bilateral cooperation in economics, trade, agro-forestry-fishery and expand the cooperation to other fields such as oil and gas exploitation, health care and telecommunication. The two countries will strive to raise two-way trade to 100 million USD in 2008 from 72 million USD in 2006. Myanmar calls on Vietnamese enterprises to invest in agro-forestry, hydropower and oil and gas. On this occasion, the Viet Nam Oil and Gas Corporation (PetroViet Nam) and Myanmar’s Ministry of Energy signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation in the oil and gas industry, facilitating their future cooperation in oil exploitation in Myanmar.
As for Brunei, the future cooperation will focus on trade, investment, oil and gas, sports, education and labour. Brunei leaders suggested bolstering cooperation and exchange of experiences in the oil and gas field and said they are ready to receive more guest workers from Viet Nam. Viet Nam and Brunei have carried out several oil and gas cooperative agreements. Brunei is also a potential labour market as nearly 1,000 Vietnamese people are working in the country.
During the visit, the two countries’ leaders agreed that Viet Nam and Brunei share a great potential for developing multi-faceted cooperation and expressed their determination to bring the bilateral relationship to a new height.-Enditem
được đăng bởi kude.punny @ 22:28
0 Nhận xét:
Đăng nhận xét
Đăng ký Đăng Nhận xét [Atom]
<< Trang chủ