President meets foreign leaders on sidelines of APEC 2024 Leaders’ Week

During the meeting between the Vietnamese leader and his Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto, both sides vowed to elevate the bilateral relations to a new height towards the 70th founding anniversary of the Viet Nam-Indonesia diplomatic ties, and 80 years of the National Day of both nations in 2025.

The two leaders pledged to maintain close coordination and mutual support at regional and international forums and organizations, including ASEAN, the UN, the Non-Aligned Movement, and APEC.

Regarding the East Sea-related issues, the two sides underscored the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety, and freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea, resolving disputes via peaceful means and promoting substantive and effective negotiations on a Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Subianto asserted that Indonesia always treasures its friendship and cooperation with Viet Nam, its strategic partner within ASEAN, proposing both sides expand economic cooperation in a bid to raise the two-way trade to US$18 billion.

He said Indonesia acknowledged Viet Nam's efforts to minimize illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities and suggested the two countrries seek innovative measures to promote fisheries cooperation based on mutual benefit and the friendship between the two nations.

At the meeting between the Vietnamese leader and Prime Minister of New Zealand Christopher Luxon, Luong emphasized that Viet Nam places great importance and hopes to promote the strategic partnership with New Zealand.

The two leaders agreed to strengthen economic cooperation, with a view to raising the bilateral trade to US$3 billion by 2026 and vowed to enhance the exchange of views and stances and promote coordination at important multilateral forums such as ASEAN mechanisms, the United Nations, and APEC.

Regarding the East Sea issue, both sides stressed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety, and freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea, as well as the need to settle disputes through peaceful measures in accordance with international law, including the UNCLOS 1982.

Luxon suggested the two sides expand collaboration into areas such as climate change response, green economy, digital economy, and high-tech agriculture.

Viet Nam is a priority partner of New Zealand in the region, he underlined, calling on the two countries to actively coordinate to develop a roadmap for lifting their relationship to new heights in the near future.

During the meeting between the Vietnamese President and Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (China) John Lee Ka-chiu, both sides agreed to increase exchanges and visits at all levels, establish frameworks for cooperation, improve the quality and efficiency of economic, trade, investment, and financial cooperation, and promote strategic connectivity.

Both sides pledged to work closely in citizen protection, judicial matters, and law enforcement, as well as expand collaboration in culture, education, labor, and tourism, and bolster stronger ties in multilateral economic cooperation frameworks of which both are members.

Lee reaffirmed that the administration of Hong Kong spoke highly of the development of a substantive and mutually beneficial relationship with Viet Nam.

Luong, for his part, affirmed that Viet Nam consistently considers the development of the friendly neighborliness and comprehensive, strategic cooperative partnership with China as a strategic choice and a top priority in its foreign policy.

Viet Nam respects and advocates the "One Country, Two Systems" policy, the Basic Law, and related regulations of Hong Kong, and supports Hong Kong's prosperous development, he stated./.