Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has conducted bilateral meetings with a number of leaders from other countries on the fringe of the third Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) in the Netherlands.
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| Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung meets Dutch Queen Maxima. Photo by VNA. |
PM Dung praised Germany for maintaining its status as one of Vietnam’s top important economic partners for years.
He asked the German Government to encourage its firms to do business in Vietnam, noting that the Vietnamese Government is willing to facilitate German investment in the country for mutual benefit, especially in the area of Germany’s strength like equipment production, healthcare, energy and chemicals.
Both leaders discussed specific measures to further strengthen Vietnam-Germany relations and accelerate the implementation of the Germany House project and the Metro Line 2 construction project in Ho Chi Minh City.
The Vietnamese Government leader applauded Germany’s selection of HCM City to organize its Asian Pacific business conference which will contribute to promoting trade and investment between Germany and Asian Pacific nations and Vietnam in particular.
Dung thanked Germany for continuing its ODA provision for Vietnam with approximately US$1.5 billion in total so far while asking the European nation to maintain this funding for Vietnam in the areas of energy, green growth, nuclear safety, environmental protection and response to climate change.
The two leaders agreed to direct relevant agencies to work closely on programmes regarding the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Vietnam-Germany diplomatic ties next year.
Meeting Singaporean PM Lee Hsien Loong, PM Dung and his counterpart underscored the need for both nations to coordinate closely to further boost the strategic partnership.
They said they are happy to seek bilateral economic cooperation growing considerably, delivering practical benefit to both.
Dung hailed Singapore’s increased investments in Vietnam and suggested Singaporean investors focus on developing uniform infrastructure facilities in adjacent areas.
Lee Hsien Loong appreciated the operational efficiency of five Vietnam- Singapore industrial parks (VSIP) and voiced his wish that Vietnam will create the best possible conditions for carrying out VSIP No 6 and 7.
The two PMs agreed to work hand in hand with Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) members, especially with ASEAN countries in TPP with a view to finalizing negotiations at earliest date.
They also compared notes on coordination within ASEAN in maintaining peace, stability, security and maritime security and safety in the East Sea.
They said it is imperative to resolve disputes in the East Sea by peaceful means on the basis of international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), as well as seriously and fully implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and accelerate negotiations for the early formation of a Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea.
At the meeting with European Commission (EC) President Jose Manuel Barroso, PM Dung expressed his delight at the positive developments in bilateral ties.
In the context of economic woes in both Vietnam and the EU, their bilateral trade turnover continue to pick up, reaching US$34 billion last year, up 16 percent from 2012.
EU remained one of the biggest trade partners, a leading investor and biggest non-refundable aid provider of Vietnam.
The EC President reiterated the EU commitments to provide aid for Vietnam for 2014-2020 which shows the bloc’s recognition of importance to enhancing its relations with Vietnam.
Dung attributed Vietnam’s tremendous achievements in poverty reduction and coping with non-traditional security challenges to great support from the international community including the EU.
Barroso pledge his best efforts to call on the European Parliament and EU member nations to approve the Vietnam-EU Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) to provide a legal framework for the two sides in line with the high level of their growing cooperative and partnership.
Dung and Barroso affirmed determination to conclude the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) negotiations before the 10th ASEM Summit in Milan, Italy.
Dung proposed the EU consider the different level of development between the two sides to provide Vietnam with flexible treatment in some trade areas such as farm produce, seafood, garments and textiles and footwear and negotiating areas that are still new to Vietnam like Government procurement and geographical indications.
He also suggested EC agencies to speed up the recognition of Vietnam’s full market economy no later than the time of finalizing the EVFTA negotiations.
As a coodinator for Vietnam-EU relations, Vietnam will coordinate with the EU to promote ASEAN-EU dialogues in an effective and practice manner thus bringing bilateral ties to a higher level and contributing to peace, stability and development in the region.
Barroso invited PM Dung to visit the EC as part of attendance of the ASEM Summit in October this year.
Talking to his Malaysian counterpart Muhyiddin Yassin, PM Dung extended his condolences to the Malaysian Government and families of the victims of the MH370 flight, adding that Vietnam is ready to support Malaysia in the ongoing search efforts.
Malaysian PM thanked Vietnam for its search efforts and commended PM Dung’s guidance of search and rescue work.
The 3rd Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) wrapped up in The Hague, the Netherlands on March 25 with the adoption of a final joint statement that underlined the need to intensify closer international cooperation in securing nuclear security.