President back in Hanoi after working trip

Hanoi (VNA) – President Tran Dai Quang and his spouse arrived in Hanoi on November 28, concluding a two-week trip abroad to attend the 24th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in Peru and the 16th Francophone Summit in Madagascar.

During the trip, he also made an official visit to Cuba, a State-level visit to Italy and a visit to the Vatican.

During the visits, President Tran Dai Quang held talks and meetings with many State and government leaders, including the Presidents of Peru, China, Madagascar, Russia, Chile and the US, the King of Brunei, and the Prime Ministers of Singapore, Canada, Papua New Guinea and Australia.

The President delivered speeches at key sessions within the framework of the APEC High-level Week and the Francophone Summit.

The visit to Cuba from November 15-17 was a success, contributing to ties between the two nations, opening up prospects for closer bilateral economic, trade and investment ties in the near future.

The Vietnamese delegation made positive contributions to APEC meetings through sharing experience in developing support industry and promoting businesses’ involvement in global value chain, infrastructure and institutional and human connectivity.

As host of APEC 2017, Vietnam suggested orientations for APEC development after 2020 and conveyed messages about building APEC for people and businesses.

APEC member states and enterprises expressed their support for the theme “Creating New Dynamism, Fostering a Shared Future” and priorities of APEC Year 2017 as proposed by Vietnam.

During the Italian visit from November 21-24, both sides demonstrated political resolve to deepen their strategic partnership through maintaining regular visits of high-level delegations and existing cooperation mechanisms. They discussed in depth bilateral economic, trade and investment ties, towards lifting two-way trade from 4.3 billion USD to 6 billion USD in 2017-2018.

In the Vatican, President Tran Dai Quang met Pope Francis and Prime Minister Pietro Parolin.

The Vatican spoke highly of Vietnam’s socio-economic achievements and collection of public feedback before approving the Law on Belief and Religion.

The two sides also vowed to maintain dialogues and meetings.

At the 16th Francophone Summit in Madagascar’s capital city of Antananaviro from November 26-27, The Vietnamese President was the only representative from Asia-Pacific to deliver a speech at the opening ceremony.

During the summit, Vietnam manifested its role as an active member of the Francophone Community by promoting the implementation of the Francophone Economic Strategy, developing countries’ integration into the world economy, ensuring water resources and food and energy security./.