Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh has asked Thailand’s authorities to continue ensuring security and safety for Vietnamese citizens who are working, visiting and living there.

Minh, who is also Foreign Minister, made the request while meeting with Thai acting Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow in Hanoi on June 5.

The Deputy PM said he wishes Thailand to resume its normal situation soon for national construction and development, peace, stability and cooperation in the region, contributing to building the ASEAN Community by 2015.

For his part, Minister Sihasak briefed the host of Thailand’s three-stage road map for a general election, while affirming that Thailand will continue maintaining and developing its traditional friendship and the strategic partnership with Vietnam.

During the reception, host and guest agreed to consider the coordination in implementing bilateral connection mechanisms, including joint meetings and political consultation between the two foreign ministries.

They also agreed to accelerate the signing of an action plan for the strategic partnership first agreed during an official visit to Thailand in June 2013 by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

Regarding regional and international cooperation, Deputy PM Minh highly valued the issuance of ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ statement on the East Sea by ASEAN countries, including Thailand, at the ASEAN Summit in Myanmar last month.

He said he wishes that Thailand, as an ASEAN-China coordinator, will work with other ASEAN countries to strengthen solidarity and have a common voice in regional security and development on the basis of abiding by international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) while trying to finalise a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) as soon as possible.-VNA