Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son receives Indian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Saurabh Kumar. (Photo: VNA)
He made the statement on May 30 while being received by Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son.
Indian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Saurabh Kumar was on a visit to Vietnam to co-chair the 12th Political Consultation and the 9th Strategic Dialogue between the two foreign ministries on May 29 - 31.
At the meeting, Minister Bui Thanh Son congratulated India on continuing to make many important achievements in national construction and development; well control the COVID-19 pandemic and gradually recover the economy.
The Minister suggested the two sides continue to work together to promote important cooperation pillars such as politics - diplomacy, defense - security, trade - investment, science - technology, and culture and people exchange, especially promoting tourism cooperation in the context that the two countries have opened their borders and are conducting meaningful activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations (1972 - 2022).
The Vietnamese Foreign Minister asked Indian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Saurabh Kumar to convey his invitation to Indian Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar to visit Vietnam and co-chair the 18th meeting of the Vietnam-India Joint Committee on Economic, Commercial, Scientific and Technological Cooperation, scheduled to take place in the second half of 2022.
On the same day, Vietnamese Standing Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu and Saurabh Kumar co-chaired the 12th Political Consultation and the 9th Strategic Dialogue between the two foreign ministries.
They agreed that the Vietnam – India comprehensive strategic partnership has continued to develop strongly in different fields. They noted with pleasure the practical and effective cooperation in defence – security, and two-way trade hitting USD13.2 billion in 2021, on track towards the target of USD15 billion.
Indian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Saurabh Kumar stressed that India always attaches importance to and wishes to continuously develop the comprehensive strategic partnership with Vietnam. He agreed to closely coordinate with ministries, sectors and localities of Vietnam to organize meaningful activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The two sides expressed satisfaction and agreed to continue close coordination and mutual support at international and regional forums, especially at the United Nations and within the framework of ASEAN-India cooperation.
Regarding the East Sea issue, the two sides agreed on the necessity to maintain peace, stability, cooperation, development and respect for international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and respect for sovereignty and sovereign rights of countries and the right of freedom of aviation and navigation./.