Prime Minister hosts Kazakh President

Pham reiterated that Viet Nam attaches importance to the friendship with its traditional partners in Central Asia, including Kazakhstan, expecting to bolster the multi-faceted cooperation between the two countries for the sake of both sides.

Regarding specific measures to boost the bilateral ties, Pham welcomed positive developments in the bilateral ties, particularly in all spheres of politics-diplomacy, economy and trade. 

He proposed both sides continue enhancing all-level delegation exchanges, supporting each other at multi-lateral forums and international organizations, especially the United Nations and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA). 

The Vietnamese leader spoke highly of the effective implementation of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Viet Nam and Eurasian Economic Union comprising Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, noting that there are ample room for the two nations to step up collaboration. 

He suggested Kazakhstan continue to make it easier for Viet Nam's advantageous exports such as agricultural and forestry products, garments and timber to enter the country. 

The host called on the two nations to join hands in amending the FTA between Viet Nam and the EAEU to further facilitate bilateral trade and investment. 

Pham expressed his hope that the recently-inked visa exemption agreement for ordinary passport holders and a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in tourism will pave the way for promoting people-to-people links, tourism and trade. 

For his part, Tokayev stated that Kazakhstan considers Viet Nam as a crucial partner in the Asia-Pacific region, expecting to further strengthen the traditional friendship and multi-faceted cooperation with the nation, remarkably in such areas as economy, trade and investment. 

He said that he will direct the Kazakh Government to concentrate on fostering cooperation areas proposed by PM Pham, with a focus on potential sectors including transport, logistics, culture, tourism, finance and digital transformation.  

The guest expressed his wish to work with Viet Nam to uphold the role of the Viet Nam-Kazakhstan Intergovernmental Committee on economic, trade, scientific, and technical cooperation and launch cooperation projects in the upcoming time./.