New impulse for Viet Nam-Philippines strategic partnership
VGP - The State visit to Viet Nam by Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. on January 29-30 will generate a new momentum for the bilateral ties in all aspects, noted Vietnamese Ambassador to the Philippines Lai Thai Binh.
The visit is also of significant importance to strengthen 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.
The Philippine President’s visit has been prepared and promoted 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.
During the visit, high-ranking Vietnamese and Philippine leaders are expected to witness the signing of some important agreements in such areas as politics-security, economy-trade, culture, education, tourism, agriculture and food security, Lai stressed.
Meanwhile, Philippine Ambassador to Viet Nam Meynardo Los Banos Montealegre evaluated that the visit will be a milestone in the Philippines-Viet Nam bilateral relationship and contribute to cementing and deepening the relationship between the two countries.
Viet Nam and the Philippines set up diplomatic relations on July 12, 1976, and officially signed an agreement to upgrade their relationship to a strategic partnership on November 17, 2015.
The two countries will celebrate the 50th founding anniversary of their diplomatic ties in the next two years. In 2025, they will mark the 10th anniversary of their strategic partnership.
The two countries agreed to develop an action program to implement their strategic partnership for the 2025-2030 period; strengthen defense-security cooperation; and strive to soon bring their two-way trade turnover to US$10 billion.
The bilateral trade experienced a more than three-fold rise over the past 13 years, jumping from US$2.5 billion in 2010 to US$7.8 billion in 2022, which remained unchanged last year./.
