Poland always considers Vietnam an important partner in Southeast Asia, Polish leaders have affirmed during their meetings with visiting Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh.

The hosts, including Vice Speaker of the House of Representatives Jerzy Wenderlich, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Janusz Piechociński have hailed Vietnam’s rising international status.

At the meetings during his official visit on July 25-26, Deputy PM Minh confirmed Vietnam’s consistent policy of further strengthening the sound traditional friendly relations with Poland.

The two sides agreed to exchange regular visits between ministries and sectors to beef up cooperation in specific areas thereby making mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation fully tap potential and match with good political relations.

Minh was told that President Bronisław Komorowski will visit Vietnam next year.

At the meeting with the Polish Deputy Prime Minister cum Minister of Economy and business representatives, Deputy PM Minh affirmed Vietnam's willingness to create the best possible conditions for Polish firms to boost trade and investment in areas of their particular strengths such as shipbuilding and infrastructure development.

Both sides consented to focus on clearing bottlenecks and accelerating the implementation of signed economic cooperation agreements, especially the use of a 250 million Euro credit provided by the Polish Government for Vietnam.

They agreed to speed up the early establishment of a Vietnam-Poland Intergovernmental Committee in the near future.

As education and training cooperation is identified a priority in bilateral relations, Poland asserted that it is ready to facilitate Vietnamese students’ study by increasing the number of scholarships for them from 10 to 15 scholarships each year and soon signing a new education cooperation agreement.

The two countries concurred to enhance cooperation in environmental protection and waste water treatment and accelerate the early signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation between the Vietnam Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Poland.

They underlined the need to step up defence cooperation by promoting delegation exchange, staff training and technological transfer.

Polish leaders also commended the Vietnamese community’s positive contributions to their nation’s development, adding that it serves as an important bridge for the further promotion of the friendship between the two countries and the two peoples.

The two sides also exchanged view on international and regional issues of mutual concern and agreed to increase cooperation and mutual support at multilateral forums and international organisations, especially the UN and ASEM.

Vietnam, in its capacity as coordinator of the ASEAN-EU relations, is willing to help Poland further its relations with ASEAN.

Poland confirmed its support for Vietnam’s relations with the European Union (EU) and the early conclusion of the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) negotiations before October 2014.

Poland will soon announce its early ratification of the Vietnam-EU Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) that Vietnam has signed with the EU.

On the East Sea issue, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that his country supports the stance of resolving all disputes by peaceful measures in accordance with international law.-VNA