Vietnam and Belarus signed a joint communiqué on the outcomes of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s visit to Belarus from May 15-17 at the invitation of his Belarusian counterpart Mikhail Myiasnikovich.

During the visit, Dung held talks with Myiasnikovich, met with President Alexander Lukashenko and leaders of the Belarusian legislature, and toured several cultural and historic sites in the country.

The communiqué says that the two PMs expressed their delight at the dynamic development of their high-level political dialogues based on friendship, mutual trust and respect. They also highly valued the maintenance of official exchanges and constructive traditional partnership between Vietnam and Belarus .

The two sides agreed to actively continue exchanging high-level delegations to manifest political determination, create a driving force to further strengthen cooperation in politics, economics, trade, investment, national defence, security, science-technology, education-training, culture, tourism and sports.

Leaders of the two Governments advocated further improving the working efficiency of bilateral inter-governmental committees to develop Vietnam–Belarus ties in concrete realms.

The PMs affirmed their determination to lift bilateral economic and trade ties to a new height to match the two nations’ potential.

They reached a consensus on increasing Vietnam ’s export of farm produce, seafood, rubber, garments, footwear and pharmaceuticals to ensure bilateral trade balance.

The Belarusian side pledged all possible conditions to establish Vietnam–Belarus joint-ventures based in the European country to process imports from Vietnam, including coffee, tea and traditional medicines.

The Vietnamese side also vowed to make it easier for Belarusian-made fertiliser, tractors, agricultural machinery and tyres to enter Vietnam, as well as to facilitate joint-venture projects on assembling products imported from Belarus and exploiting mineral mines in Vietnam and other countries.

The two sides will adopt measures to produce milk products using materials from Belarus in Vietnam .

Both host and guest hailed the success of the first round of negotiations on the free trade area agreement between Vietnam and the Union of Customs. They also expressed their willingness to step up the signing of the agreement.

Belarus and Vietnam are willing to exchange experience and bolster multifaceted cooperation in the international arena, including global and regional security issues, anti-terrorism and climate change, among others.

The two sides were unanimous in the United Nations’ central and coordinating role in maintaining global security, accelerating socio-economic progress, and coping with global threats and challenges, including the fight against human trafficking.

The two sides agreed to actively coordinate actions in the international arena and protested against the politicisation of human rights.

They expressed support for the maintenance of peace and stability, maritime safety and security in the East Sea , and the settlement of disputes by peaceful means in line with international law.

The Belarusian side also promised to create all possible favourable conditions for Vietnamese citizens living and working in the country in accordance with the country’s laws.-VNA