Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (R) and Brunei’s Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Lim Jock Seng (Source: VNA) The meeting was co-chaired byDeputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and Brunei’s Ministerat the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister of Foreign Affairs and TradeLim Jock Seng.
Both sides expressed their satisfactionwith the development of Vietnam-Brunei friendship and comprehensive cooperationsince the establishment of bilateral diplomatic ties 25 years ago (February 29)and spoke highly of the outcomes of President Tran Dai Quang’s visit to Bruneilast August.
They agreed to continuefacilitating all-level visits and people-to-people exchange to raise mutualunderstanding and trust.
Lim informed Minh that the Sultanof Brunei will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit to beheld in the central city of Da Nang this year.
The two sides proposed measuresto enhance partnership across the fields of economy-trade-investment, nationaldefence-security, oil and gas, agro-fisheries, culture-tourism,education-training, and labour.
They concurred with promotingexperience sharing via seminars, investment, trade connectivity as well asextend joint work to survey, exploit, process and distribute oil and gas.
Minh asked the Brunei side toassist Vietnam in training and recognise Halal certification agencies inVietnam.
On defence-security, the twocountries will continue extensively implementing existing agreements andmechanisms while expanding ties among armed forces, especially between the navyand coast guards and broadening collaboration in search and rescue at sea,training, and the fight against terrorism and drug.
Both sides pledged to considersigning agreements on fighting trans-national crimes, judicial assistance incriminal matters, extradition and transfer of sentenced persons.
Minh highly valued Brunei’ssettlement of fishermen issue over the past time. The Brunei Minister thankedVietnamese experts for helping Brunei with rice cultivation and agro-fisheriesand vowed to direct concerned agencies to discuss how to enhance bilaterallabour cooperation.
The two ministers debated theorganisation of seminars, exchange of delegations, culture and arts andpeople-to-people exchange to introduce respective traditional culture andpeople on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties.
They promised to continue mutualsupport at regional and global forums, especially in ASEAN and the UnitedNations, maintaining ASEAN’s central role in the regional security architectureas well as intensifying ASEAN ties with dialogue countries, including ASEAN-Chinaties.
They committed to the maintenanceand promotion of peace, security, stability, maritime and aviation safety andfreedom in the East Sea, urging parties concerned to exercise restraint andrefrain from the threat of force or use of force, fully respect diplomatic andlegal process, settle disputes by peaceful means in line with basic principlesof international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Lawof the Sea.
Both sides reaffirmed theirsupport to the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on theConduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and the early formulation of a Code ofConduct in the East Sea (COC).
Brunei supports Vietnam’ssuccessful organisation of the APEC Summit 2017, Lim affirmed.
The second meeting of this kindis scheduled for 2019 in Brunei.
In the afternoon the same day,Lim paid a courtesy call to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.-VNA
VNA
