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Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and his counterpart Enrique Manalo hand over the minutes of the Vietnam - the Philippines joint commission on bilateral cooperation. (Photo: VNA)
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The meeting was co-chaired by Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and his Philippine counterpart Enrique Manalo.
Expressing his pleasure to visit Vietnam for the first time, Minister Manalo emphasized that Vietnam was the first country he visited officially as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The Minister affirmed that the Philippines always attaches importance to consolidating and developing friendly, cooperative and multi-faceted relations with Vietnam, the Philippines' only strategic partner in ASEAN.
Minister Bui Thanh Son welcomed Minister Manalo for his official visit to Vietnam; and stressed the visit was of great significance, contributing to further promoting the strategic partnership between the two countries.
At the meeting, with the participation of representatives of relevant ministries and sectors of the two countries, the two sides conducted a comprehensive review and assessment of bilateral relations since the 9th meeting of the joint commission in Manila in March 2019 and on the implementation of the Vietnam-Philippines Action Program for the period of 2019-2024.
The two sides were satisfied with the good development of the Vietnam-Philippines Strategic Partnership over the past 4 years, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
They agreed on many specific measures to further promote cooperation in various fields; including increasing delegation exchanges and high-level contacts, especially the visit to Vietnam by Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. at an appropriate time; and effectively implement bilateral cooperation mechanisms, including the Joint Committee on Sea and Ocean Affairs, the Joint Sub-Committee on Trade, the Joint Working Group on Agriculture, and the Joint Working Group on the seafood industry.
They aimed to effectively carry out bilateral cooperation mechanisms; advance the building of an action programme implementing the Vietnam-Philippines strategic partnership for 2025-2030; and to strengthen defence and security cooperation. Moreover, they agreed to strive to bring bilateral trade turnover to USD10 billion at an early date, with a particular emphasis on rice trade.
They pledged to enhance maritime cooperation, share information and coordinate to promptly address arising issues at sea, and improve the effectiveness of cooperation in combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Additionally, they concurred to promote collaboration in other important areas such as agriculture, culture, tourism, education, transport, science-technology, environment, and people-to-people exchange.
Vietnam and the Philippines will continue coordinating and supporting each other at multilateral forums, especially in ASEAN and the United Nations; as well as working with other ASEAN member states to maintain ASEAN's solidarity and centrality and promote the bloc’s sub-regional cooperation, contributing to building a strong and prosperous community.
The two ministers also agreed to strengthen cooperation between their foreign ministries, regarding exchanges on international and regional issues of mutual concern, and joint works between their diplomatic academies.
The ministers signed an agreement and agreed to organise the 11th meeting in the Philippines at a suitable time in 2025./.