Viet Nam willing to supply rice to Philippines to ensure food safety: FM

Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son made that above statement during his meeting with Philippine counterpart Enrique Manalo in Cambodia on November 9 within the framework of the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits and related summits.

At the meeting, both sides expressed their delight at the progress made in the countries' strategic partnership. 

They agreed on a number of measures to deepen the bilateral relations in apractical manner, with a focus on increasing the exchange of delegations, particularly high-ranking ones.

The ministers emphasized the need to resume existing cooperation mechanisms between the two sides, which were interrupted recently due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

Viet Nam and the Philippines should convene the 10th meeting of their joint committee on bilateral cooperation; make efforts to effectively implement bilateral agreements, including the 2019-2024 action plan for the countries' strategic partnership; step up bilateral trade-investment and restrict the imposition of trade barriers, the two diplomats noted. 

The two sides agreed that maritime cooperation needs to be strengthened, highlighting the need to expand cooperation in fields such as climate change response, green growth, digital transformation, e-commerce, tourism, education and training.

Regarding multilateral cooperation, the ministers said given many complicated and unpredictable changes facing the region and the world, it is necessary to strengthen exchanges and consultations in a bid to strengthen ASEAN's solidarity and centrality in the regional architecture./.