Vietnam wishes to enhance cooperation with Turkey, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Venezuela and Grenada on all fields, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said on September 25.
The Vietnamese diplomat made this statement during his bilateral meetings with the respective countries’ foreign ministers on the sidelines of the 69 th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
He proposed to strengthen exchanges of delegations and accelerate the signing of cooperation agreements on trade, investment and the economy.
The Deputy PM also highlighted Vietnam’s efforts to increase its contributions to addressing global challenges, and suggested the countries support Vietnam in its candidacy for the UN Economic and Social Council in 2016-2018, the UN Security Council in 2020-2021 and the UNESCO Executive Board in 2015-2019.
In a meeting with the Turkish Foreign Minister, Minh called upon the Turkish Government to remove protectionist policies and anti-dumping taxes against Vietnam’s garment and footwear products and enable Vietnamese labourers to work on construction projects in the country.
Meanwhile, he urged the Bulgarian side to support the acceleration of the signing of a free trade agreement between Vietnam and the European Union, and lobby for the bloc’s recognition of Vietnam as a market economy.
In his meeting with the Macedonian FM, Minh requested an increase in the number of scholarships granted by the Macedonian Government to Vietnamese students. The Macedonian FM pledged to meet this demand from the next academic year onwards.
When talking with the Venezuelan FM, Minh said Vietnam needed support from Venezuela to solve the difficulties in Vietnam’s oil and gas projects in the Latin American country.
He also suggested Vietnam and Grenada boost their economic and trade ties, particularly with regards to telecommunications services, tourism infrastructure and seafood processing.
On the same day, the Vietnamese Deputy PM met with several economists of Harvard University, and asked the experts to support Vietnam’s research on macro-economic issues, economic restructuring and sustainable development.-VNA
