Prime Minister meets foreign leaders on sidelines of 17th BRICS Summit

At the meeting with President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, Pham affirmed that Viet Nam regards South Africa as a leading partner in the African region, and highly values South Africa's position and prestige on the international arena, including its role as G20 Chair in 2025.

He also expressed the desire to further strengthen the partnership for cooperation and development between Viet Nam and South Africa.

The Prime Minister suggested Viet Nam and South Africa should work together to tap vast potential for bilateral cooperation, especially in the areas of economy, trade, investment, education and training, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges, thereby injecting new momentum to elevate the bilateral relationship to a new level.

Ramaphosa, for his part, asserted that South Africa attaches importance to the traditional friendship between the two countries. He expressed his hope to visit Viet Nam in 2025.

The two sides discussed major orientations for advancing bilateral relations and agreed to jointly explore the signing of agreements and legal frameworks to promote economic cooperation, and strengthen collaboration in areas such as education, defense and security as well as expand cooperation into other promising fields such as energy, mining, sustainable resource use, infrastructure development, and climate change response.

During the meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pham hailed India's increasingly important role at international forums, including BRICS.

Modi affirmed that the Vietnamese Prime Minister is a close friend of India.

At the meeting with President of Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Pham emphasized Viet Nam's wish to strengthen bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Tinubu asserted that Nigeria highly values the development of relations with Viet Nam, which he described as a priority partner of Nigeria in Southeast Asia.

The two leaders vowed to boost cooperation in economy, trade, and investment and enhance collaboration in other potential areas such as energy, mining, sustainable resource use, infrastructure development, and climate change response.

During his meeting with Vice President of Uganda Jessica Rose Epel Alupo, the Vietnamese Prime Minister stated that Viet Nam always attaches great importance to its friendly and multifaceted cooperation with Uganda, viewing Uganda as one of its priority partners in Africa.

Alupo expressed her desire to deepen multifaceted cooperation between Uganda and Viet Nam, particularly in the areas of economy and trade.

She proposed prioritizing agricultural cooperation, especially in agricultural product processing, coffee, and mining, and encouraged Vietnamese enterprises to explore opportunities for cooperation and investment in these fields.

At his meeting with First Deputy Chairperson of the Senate of Uzbekistan's Parliament Sodiq Solihovich Safoyev, Pham reiterated that Viet Nam always treasures and wishes to further strengthen its traditional friendship with Uzbekistan.

Safoyev emphasized the importance of maintaining high-level delegation exchanges to consolidate and advance bilateral relations. He also expressed his desire to visit Viet Nam soon.

At the meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the Vietnamese leader and the Russian diplomat reaffirmed the key principles and major orientations for promoting and strengthening the traditional friendship and Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Viet Nam and the Russian Federation.

The two sides pledged to effectively implement the commitments and agreements reached during the visit to Russia by General Secretary To Lam last May.

They also committed to enhancing all-level delegation exchanges while boosting cooperation in the areas of economy, trade, investment, transportation, e-commerce, labor, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges.

During the meeting with World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Prime Minister underlined that Viet Nam highly values the WTO's role in leading and promoting the liberalization of trade effectively.

He voiced Viet Nam's support for efforts and initiatives to reform the WTO in order to enhance its operational efficiency in the current global context.

The WTO Director-General praised Viet Nam's recent socio-economic development achievements and its active participation within the WTO framework.

She welcomed Viet Nam's consistent stance on proactive and active international integration, and its advocate for the WTO in maintaining its central role in enhancing the global multilateral trading system.

Meeting with Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Prime Minister urged the WHO to uphold its leading role in researching diseases and epidemics, providing timely assessments and warnings, while further promoting international cooperation in the field of healthcare and epidemic prevention.

He called on the WHO to send experts to assist Viet Nam in improving its institutional policies, developing the grassroots healthcare system, enhancing the living environment and conditions for the people, and advancing sustainable public health development.

The WHO Director-General agreed with Prime Minister Pham's proposals, highly valuing Viet Nam's sound policies and efforts in responding to epidemics, developing grassroots healthcare, and promoting universal health coverage.

He affirmed the WHO's readiness to provide support and advice to Viet Nam as requested by the Prime Minister.

Both sides vowed to strengthen coordination between Viet Nam and the WHO in the international community's joint efforts to ensure human safety and health, and effectively prevent and control epidemics.

At the meeting with President and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) Jin Liqun, Pham suggested the AIIB continue to support Viet Nam in mobilizing resources for major projects such as the Lao Cai–Ha Noi–Hai Phong standard-gauge railway line.

Liqun, for his part, said the AIIB will continue to accompany and support Viet Nam in mobilizing resources for the development of key infrastructure and ensuring energy supply for the operation of high-speed rail lines.

He also expressed the AIIB's willingness to participate in transportation infrastructure, healthcare, climate change adaptation, power transmission, and energy transition projects in Viet Nam and the region./.