PM leaves New York, concluding his working trip

Prime Minister Nguyen XuanPhuc (left) and President of Cuba’s Council of State and Council of Ministers Miguel Diaz-Canel (Photo: VNA)

New York (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc left New York in the evening of September 27 (local time), concluding his working trip to attend the High-level General Debate of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly.

Earlier, the PM had bilateral meetings with top leaders of Cuba, Bulgaria, Croatia, Fiji and Saint Lucia, during which he briefed them on Vietnam’s development achievements and its foreign policy.

He asked these countries to support Vietnam’s candidacy for non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council for the 2020-2021 tenure, and affirmed the country’s strong commitment to contributing more to maintaining international peace and security.

The leaders appreciated Vietnam’s increasingly important role in the region and the world. They expressed their belief that Vietnam would perform well the role as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, while pledging to maintain close coordination with the country within the framework of the UN and other international organisations.

Meeting President of Cuba’s Council of State and Council of Ministers Miguel Diaz-Canel, PM Phuc suggested both sides continue consolidating existing cooperation mechanisms, speeding up the establishment of new ones, exchanging experience and increasing the efficiency of existing cooperation projects.

Diaz-Canel agreed to boost economic cooperation to match the two sides’ potential, and lauded projects Vietnam is implementing in Cuba’s special economic zones.

While meeting Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, the Vietnamese leader asked Bulgaria to continue encouraging its enterprises to explore investment and business opportunities in Vietnam in oil and gas, bio-technology, information technology, environmental protection and food processing.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (right) and Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov (Photo: VNA)

He expressed his hope that Bulgaria will help speed up the European Union’s signing of its free trade agreement with Vietnam this year.

The Bulgarian PM agreed to further develop bilateral ties, hoping to welcome PM Phuc and other Vietnamese leaders to his country.

At his meeting with Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, PM Phuc affirmed Vietnam’s willingness to create favourable conditions for Croatian enterprises, while suggesting both sides intensify delegation exchanges and trade and investment promotion to raise bilateral trade to 200 million USD in the next five years.

Agreeing with the Vietnamese leader’s proposal, Kolinda welcomed the two countries’ signing of an Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement in July.

Meeting Fijian President Jioji Konrote, the Vietnamese PM confirmed his country is willing to share its experience with Fiji in agricultural development, food security, fishing and seafood processing.

Both sides agreed to cooperate closely in climate change and sea-level rising response and maritime protection.

Exchanging views with Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister Allen Chastanet, PM Phuc welcomed the two countries’ establishment of diplomatic ties on June 26, 2018.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (right) and Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister Allen Chastanet (Photo: VNA)

He proposed both sides step up delegation exchanges, consider the establishment of several bilateral cooperation mechanisms and create favourable conditions for each other’s businesses to seek business opportunities, particularly in agriculture and tourism.

On the same day, the Vietnamese Government leader met representatives from the Vietnam Permanent Delegation to the UN, the Vietnamese Embassy in the US and the Vietnamese community in the country.

He also met several individuals who are friends of Vietnam in the US. He thanked them for their support for the normalisation process of the Vietnam-US relations as well as for Vietnam’s renewal and international integration cause.-VNA

VNA