Prime Minister Le Minh Hung meets Philippine President ahead of regional Summits

The Philippine President welcomed Le's participation in the regional summits for the first time in his capacity as Prime Minister of Viet Nam. He highly valued the positive developments in the Philippines–Viet Nam Strategic Partnership over the past years and expressed his wish that both sides would continue to further promote bilateral cooperation in a substantive, effective and comprehensive manner.

Marcos appreciated Viet Nam's active coordination during the Philippines' ASEAN Chairmanship year, promising to work closely with Viet Nam and other ASEAN member states to further promote intra-bloc economic and trade cooperation, while consolidating an environment of peace, stability, and development in the region amid global uncertainties.

The two countries have significant potential and room for cooperation in areas such as economy and trade, security and defense, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges, said Marcos.

The host voiced his support for opening more direct flights between cities in both countries, and hailed the joint coordination in organizing events to commemorate the 50th founding anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2026.

Le emphasized that this year will be a particularly significant year as the two countries celebrate the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relations. He affirmed that the Government of Viet Nam attaches great importance and seeks to further promote the Strategic Partnership with the Philippines.

Le reassured Viet Nam's support for the Philippines to successfully undertake the role as the ASEAN Chair in 2026, contributing to strengthening ASEAN solidarity, unity, and its central role in the regional architecture.

The two leaders agreed that the two countries should give high priority to promoting the exchange of delegations and soon raising the two-way trade to US$10 billion in the near future.

They also agreed to boost cooperation in ensuring food security, energy security, and marine science research; promptly conclude negotiations and sign an agreement on education cooperation as well as a tourism cooperation program for the 2026–2029 period.

Both leaders vowed to continue mutual support at multilateral forums, and to actively work with ASEAN member states and China to advance negotiations on the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) that is substantive and effective in accordance with international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)./.