Jakarta (VNA) – Party General Secretary To Lam, his spouse Ngo Phuong Ly, and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation left Jakarta on March 11, concluding their three-day state visit to Indonesia and official visit to the ASEAN Secretariat.
The visits were made at the invitation of President of the Republic of Indonesia and Chairman of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) Prabowo Subianto, and ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn.
The delegation is now heading to Singapore for an official visit at the invitation of Singaporean Prime Minister and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party (PAP) Lawrence Wong.
President Prabowo Subianto came to the airport to bid farewell to Party chief To Lam and the high-ranking delegation of Vietnam.
During his stay, the Vietnamese Party leader held talks with the Indonesian President; met with the Speaker of the People's Representative Council, the Speaker of the Regional Representatives Council, and the Chairperson of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR); hosted receptions for Indonesian corporations; and met with staff of the Vietnamese Embassy and mission in Indonesia. He also attended the Vietnam-Indonesia High-level Business Dialogue, and participated in a ceremony marking Vietnam's 30 years of ASEAN membership where he delivered a policy speech.
At the events, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to the traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries. They agreed to elevate the bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership, pledging to strengthen political trust, cooperation, and coordination in addressing global challenges based on respect for international law, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence.
With the spirit of bringing bilateral relations to a new chapter, they underscored the significance of enhancing people-to-people exchanges and conducting regular assessments of the relations through existing cooperation mechanisms.
They also concurred to deepen economic collaboration to contribute to the common efforts of Vietnam and Indonesia to become high-income countries by their 100th independence anniversaries in 2045.
To achieve this goal, the two countries set a bilateral trade target of 18 billion USD by 2028 and will continue to strengthen cross-sectoral economic cooperation. They agreed to expand cooperation to new areas for a sustainable future such as green economy, food and energy security, Halal industry, fisheries, agriculture, maritime cooperation, science and technology, digital transformation, AI, and banking and finance.
Laying stress on mutual support and close coordination at multilateral forums, the two sides reaffirmed commitment to bolstering cooperation and coordination at ASEAN, the UN, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, and inter-parliamentary forums, as well as to consolidating the ASEAN Community-building process.
They pledged to maintain peace, security, stability and freedom of navigation and overflight in accordance with ASEAN’s consistent stance, emphasising the importance of peacefully settling disputes via legal and diplomatic measures and in full compliance with international law, particularly the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
On the occasion, Party chief Lam attended the ceremony announcing national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines' direct route connecting HCM City and Bali resort island’s Denpasar. He also witnessed the exchange of multiple cooperation documents across areas.
Party General Secretary Lam's visit to the ASEAN Secretariat strongly demonstrates Vietnam's strategic commitment to the bloc, affirming that ASEAN continues to be a top priority in Vietnam's foreign policy in its new era./.
