General Secretary To Lam meets Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov

To expressed his pleasure to visit the beautiful country of Azerbaijan rich in cultural identity and emphasized the fine traditional friendship between Viet Nam and Azerbaijan was founded by President Ho Chi Minh and Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev and has been nurtured and strongly developed by generations of leaders and people of the two countries.

The General Secretary affirmed that the Party, State and people of Viet Nam always bear in mind and are grateful for the valuable support and assistance that the Azerbaijani people have offered Viet Nam during its past struggle for national independence and unification as well as the current course of national construction and development.

Viet Nam always attaches importance to further deepening the relations with Azerbaijan across all fields, To affirmed.

He briefed Prime Minister Ali Asadov about major outcomes of his summit meeting with Azerbaijani Presdident Ilham Aliyev, during which both sides agreed to issue a Joint Statement on the establishment of strategic partnership between Viet Nam and Azerbaijan.

The new partnership framework marks a historic milestone, opening up a new era in the bilateral relations and creating a strong momentum for both countries to promote substantial and effective cooperation, especially in the fields like economy, trade, investment, energy, defense, education, culture and people-to-people exchange, To said.

Asadov, for his part, warmly welcomed To's State visit to Azerbaijan, expressing his belief that the visit reflects the political trust and remarkable development of the bilateral relations.

Asadov also expressed his admiration for Viet Nam's impressive socio-economic development achievements in recent past, affirming Azerbaijan always treasures the multi-faceted cooperation with Viet Nam and considers Viet Nam a partner of top priority in Southeast Asian region.

Both sides agreed to promote the role of legislative bodies of the two countries in coordinating, supporting and urging their ministries and agencies in implementing five groups of solutions: intensifying cooperation in traditional fields, espcially energy-oil and gas; promoting the role and effectiveness of the Intergovernmental Committee for economic, trade, scientific and technological cooperation; boosting trade promotion and business partnership; encouraging and facilitating investment activities, especially in agriculture and food safety domains; promoting education and training cooperation.

Both sides agreed to promote contacts and exchange of delegations at all levels, escially high-level oness; actively realize high-level agreeements; and enhance coordination at regional and international organizations.

The two sides undersocred the significance of the newly-established partnership framework, which will bring practical benefits to the two countries' people and contribute to peace, stability, cooperation and prosperity in the region and the world.

On the occasion, General Secretary To conveyed Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's invitation to Prime Minister Asadov to visit Viet Nam./.