The upcoming state visit to Vietnam by Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. will create momentum for the bilateral ties in all spheres, Vietnamese Ambassador to the Philippines Lai Thai Binh has affirmed.
In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) ahead of the visit on January 29-30, the ambassador said Vietnam and the Philippines established diplomatic relations on July 12, 1976, and officially signed an agreement to upgrade their relationship to a strategic partnership on November 17, 2015.
Since then, the bilateral ties have continuously developed in all fields, he said, elaborating that in politics, high-ranking leaders of the two countries have maintained mutual visits as well as talks and meetings on the sidelines of multilateral conferences.
In 2022, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue had a very successful visit to the Philippines. Last year, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had four talks and contacts with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on the sidelines of high-level conferences, demonstrating the closeness and high political trust between the two countries.
The two sides have also maintained and enhanced the efficiency of cooperation forums on national defence and security, both bilaterally and within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the diplomat continued.
The bilateral trade experienced a more than three-fold rise over the past 13 years, from 2.5 billion USD in 2010 to 7.8 billion USD in 2022, which remained unchanged last year, he said.
In addition, cooperation in education, tourism and labour is also developing dynamically, contributing to strengthening people-to-people exchanges and deepening the strategic partnership, the ambassador added.
According to Binh, the Philippine President’s visit has been prepared and accelerated by both sides since he took office on June 30, 2022, and it is set to reaffirm the solid strategic partnership, foster political trust at the highest levels, and create momentum to promote the bilateral cooperation in all fields and through all Party, Government, State, National Assembly and people-to-people exchange channels.
The visit is also important to strengthening ASEAN’s solidarity and centrality, especially in the context of political and security uncertainties in the region and the world, including the situation in Myanmar and the East Sea.
Through the visit, the strategic cooperation between the two countries is expected to be comprehensively consolidated, for the sake of their people, and for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and beyond, he said.
During the visit, high-ranking Vietnamese and Philippine leaders are scheduled to witness the signing of some important agreements in such areas as politics-security, economy-trade, culture, education, tourism, agriculture and food security, Binh stressed.
He held that the similarities in geographical location, population, development level, history, culture and people will create a favourable foundation for the two countries to step up their collaboration.
The two countries will prioritise boosting some spearheads in their cooperation, the diplomat said, explaining that they will further deploy and improve the efficiency of existing maritime dialogue and cooperation mechanisms.
They will also expand collaboration in defence industry, search and rescue operations, humanitarian aid and natural disaster response, while forging cooperation in fighting crimes and responding to traditional and non-traditional security challenges, among other realms.
Two-way trade is set to reach 10 billion USD in the time ahead, the ambassador said.
