President receives Chilean Health Minister in Geneva

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) receives Chilean Minister of Health Oscar Enrique Paris Mancilla. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc received ChileanMinister of Health Oscar Enrique Paris Mancilla in Geneva on November 29, as both were visiting Switzerland.

As Vietnam and Chile are celebrating the 50th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties, President Phuc proposed the two sides continuecoordinating closely to implement celebrations to bring aboutpractical efficiency.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the goodrelationship is an important foundation for the two countries to boosttheir collaboration in pandemic prevention and control, he said.

Congratulating Chile on its well control of the pandemic with ahigh rate of people vaccinated against COVID-19, the Vietnamese Presidentthanked Chile for its willingness to cooperate and share vaccines with Vietnam.

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Chilean Minister of Health Oscar Enrique Paris Mancilla, and other officials pose for a photo. (Photo: VNA)

With current bilateral cooperation mechanisms such as theVietnam-Chile Free Trade Agreement that took effect in 2014, the Comprehensiveand Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) of which both nations are members, and thepolitical consultation, President Phuc said that this is an important basis for the twocountries to promote cooperation in the coming time. He expressed his delightthat two-way trade in the first nine months of this year reached nearly 1.5billion USD, up 59 percent over the same period last year.

Agreeing with President Phuc’s proposal on intensifying cooperation inpandemic prevention and control, Enrique Paris said that Chile is willingto collaborate and share COVID-19 vaccines with Vietnam, and boostbilateral collaboration in health.

Given Vietnam joining numerous free trade agreements,including the CPTPP to which Chile is a signatory, he suggested both sides step upcooperation to make full use of this advantage to bring about practical interestsfor each side./.

VNA