Viet Nam, Brunei Target US$500 Million in Bilateral Trade

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (L) meets Sultan of Brunei Haji Hassanal Bolkiah on the sidelines of the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting, Jakarta, Indonesia, April 24, 2021 - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

The agreement was reached at their meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia on April 24 as the pair was there for the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting.

Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah congratulated Pham on his election as the Vietnamese PM and spoke highly of Viet Nam’s achievements in COVID-19 containment, socio-economic development, and external relations.

Pham congratulated Brunei on effective management of the COVID-19 pandemic, paving the way for Brunei to restart the economy and realize its Vision 2035.

He reassured that Viet Nam attaches importance to strengthening the relations with Brunei and advocates Brunei as the Chair of ASEAN 2021.

Both leaders highly valued positive developments in the two countries’ relationship, with the elevation of the bilateral ties to comprehensive partnership 2019 during Sultan’s visit to Viet Nam and trade volume in 2020 doubling that from the previous year were among significant evidences.

They agreed upon a cooperation agenda for the time ahead, which includes increasing high-level exchanges and contacts when circumstance allows, organizing the second meeting of the joint ministerial-level committee on bilateral cooperation in 2021, formulating an action program to implement the comprehensive partnership in the next five years, and promoting cooperation in energy, agriculture and education.

The sides also agreed to encourage Vietnamese and Brunei firms to expand investment and trade partnership, enhance maritime cooperation with a focus on aquaculture-seafood processing and experience and information exchanges on law enforcement.

PM Pham expressed thanks for Brunei support for Viet Nam’s positions as the ASEAN Chair 2020 and the non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council during 2020-2021 tenure.

He asked Brunei to back Viet Nam to host the ASEAN Center for Public Health Emergencies and Emerging Diseases.

The Sultan of Brunei invited Pham to pay visit to Brunei and the latter gladly accepted the invitation. The Vietnamese PM conveyed the invitation of Viet Nam’s senior leaders to the Sultan of Brunei and his family to visit Viet Nam again./.

By Thuy Dung