Viet Nam, Thailand hold 4th meeting of Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation

Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Don Pramudwinai co-chair the 4th meeting of the Viet Nam-Thailand Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation, November 19, 2021.

The event was co-chaired by Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Don Pramudwinai.

During the meeting, the two sides reviewed and assessed cooperation results in the recent past and discussed orientations to deepen the bilateral cooperation across all fields. 

They noted with satisfaction that the Viet Nam-Thaland enhanced strategic partnership has been thriving on the foundation of mutual respect, understanding and benefit. 

The Thai official affirmed that Thailand always values and wishes to further bolster the enhanced strategic partnership with Viet Nam. 

The two ministers agreed to continue close cooperation in promoting exchange of delegations and bilateral mechanisms, underlining that people-to-people exchange serves as an important pillar and stressing a need to foster mutual understanding. 

They appreciated support for each other in the fight against COVID-19 and consented to strengthen public health cooperation in fields of mutual concern.

The sides also agreed to step up economic connections and maintain the supply chain to facilitate the flow of goods; refrain from imposing trade barriers on each other’s products; and strive to bring bilateral trade to US$25 billion in a more balanced manner. 

Son asked Thai retailers to continue upholding their role in promoting Vietnamese goods to consumers, and called on Thai businesses to invest in fields that they boast strengths in while Viet Nam has strong demand for. 

Viet Nam and Thailand agreed to seek cooperation possibilities in new fields of growth and further support each other at international and regional forums, as well as capitalize on opportunities and interests brought by new generation free trade agreements. 

At the meeting, the two ministers exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual concern. 

Regarding the East Sea issue, they underscored the significance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the waters; not using or threatening to use force; and resolving disputes by peaceful measures in line with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982).

They showed support for the serious and full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and negotiations for concluding a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) that is in accordance with international law, including the UNCLOS 1982.

The ministers adopted the meeting’s minutes and pledged to work together to promote the realization of collaboration areas stated in the minutes. 

They also inked a memorandum of understanding between the two foreign ministries, and witnessed the signing of a MoU between the countries’ culture ministries in 2021-26 and another on the establishment of partnership between Thua Thien Hue of Vietnam and Ubon Ratchathani province of Thailand./. VNA