Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R) and Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Zbigniew Rau. Photo: VGP |
Vietnam always treasures and wants to strengthen its multifaceted cooperation with Poland, a traditional friend and partner in Central Eastern Europe, PM Chinh told Minister Rau on March 16 as reported by VietnamPlus.
The PM thanked the Government and people of Poland for their donation of nearly 1.4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines and 8 tonnes of medical equipment to help Vietnam overcome the pandemic and boost economic recovery.
For his part, Rau said he is impressed with Vietnam’s socio-economic development achievements and stated that Poland wants to fortify its collaboration with the nation, the most important partner of Poland in Southeast Asia.
Regarding the Vietnam-Poland relationship, PM Chinh suggested the two sides increase the exchange of delegations, especially high-level ones and between sectors and localities, to boost political trust and mutual understanding, forming a basis for their bilateral cooperation expansion across all fields.
Poland has been Vietnam’s biggest trade partner in Central Eastern Europe for years and the two countries’ economic and trade cooperation maintains a strong growth momentum despite Covid-19, the Government leader said, adding that bilateral trade stood at a high level in 2021 and 2022, over $2.5 billion.
PM Chinh recommended Poland to create favourable conditions for Vietnam’s agro-forestry-aquatic products to penetrate deeper into the Polish market; and encourage Polish businesses to step up investment in Vietnam’s pharmaceuticals, food processing, and manufacturing industries.
He proposed the European nation soon ratify the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) to facilitate equal and mutually beneficial investment cooperation between the two countries; and urge the European Commission (EC) to soon remove its yellow card warning on Vietnam’s seafood exports, meeting the interests of Polish and EU consumers and ensuring livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of workers in the Vietnamese fishery industry.
At the meeting between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Zbigniew Rau. Photo: VGP |
Rau pledged to encourage Polish ministries and branches to coordinate with the Vietnamese side to concretise the PM’s recommendations, contributing to making the bilateral cooperation more practical and effective.
He expressed his desire to strengthen the bilateral partnership in areas where Poland has strengths such as IT, smart cities building, green technology, and environmental protection.
The PM and the Polish minister agreed that the two countries should strengthen cooperation at multilateral and regional forums.
Regarding the Bien Dong Sea (South China Sea) issue, they emphasised the importance of ensuring security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight in the sea as well as settling disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
On this occasion, Rau conveyed Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki’s invitation to PM Chinh to pay an official visit to Poland soon. The Vietnamese leader said he will arrange a trip to Poland at an appropriate time.
While in Vietnam, Rau was received by Vice Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Nguyen Duc Hai in Hanoi on March 17, who said the Vietnamese legislature always supports the comprehensive cooperation between the two governments, according to Nhan dan (People) newspaper.
Vice Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Nguyen Duc Hai and and Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Zbigniew Rau. Photo: quochoi.vn |
The two officials noted with pleasure the fruitful development of relations between the two legislatures, and expressed their hope to further bolster the bilateral partnership in the coming time.
On March 16, Rau and his Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son held talks in Hanoi. The two sides held that room remains huge to further strengthen their bilateral cooperation.
Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Zbigniew Rau and his Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son. Photo: baoquocte.vn |
They also agreed to promote the exchange of delegations, closely coordinate and support each other at multilateral and international forums, including the United Nations, Asia-Europe Meeting and ASEAN-EU.
A memorandum of understanding between the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and the Polish Diplomatic Academy was signed on this occasion./.
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