President Abdul Hamid and his spouse are welcomed in Hanoi on August 10 (Photo: VNA) Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid left Ho Chi Minh City at noon on August 13, concluding a five-day State visit to Vietnam at the invitation of President Truong Tan Sang.
During the visit, President Hamid had talks with and attended a banquet hosted by his Vietnamese counterpart Truong Tan Sang. He also met with Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung.
At the talks, Presidents Hamid and Sang expressed their hopes to see the bilateral relations rise to a new height. They agreed to expand cooperation in potential fields.
They concurred to promote political linkages and underlined the significance of increasing all-level visits between their ministries, sectors and localities along with people-to-people exchanges.
Vietnam and Bangladesh will enhance policy consultations and dialogues while working to shortly convene the third meeting of the joint committee on economic, trade, cultural and scientific-technological cooperation and the first political consultation between the two foreign ministries.
The two sides will also bolster security-defence cooperation through exchanging delegations, sharing experience in joining United Nations peacekeeping activities and working together to prevent trans-national crimes and illegal migration.
The Presidents were unanimous in fostering trade and investment promotion activities and encouraging private partnerships towards pushing bilateral trade to 1 billion USD in 2016.
The countries will consider expanding affiliation in promising realms such as textile-garment, mining, energy, chemistry, machinery, consumer goods manufacturing, food processing, steel production, construction and telecommunications.
Both sides pledged active mutual support and coordination to devise joint initiatives for issues of shared concern, including sustainable development and natural disaster response as well as water, food and energy security.
They also emphasised the importance of maintaining peace and stability and respecting basic internationally recognised principles to settle disputes, thus ensuring maritime safety and freedom.
Prior to his talks and meetings with the Vietnamese leaders, President Hamid visited the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and laid a wreath at the monument to heroic martyrs in Hanoi. Later, he visited Ha Long Bay in the northern province of Quang Ninh and Ho Chi Minh City.-VNA
