Vietnam, China need to step up relations: ambassador

Hong Kong (VNA) – Vietnam and China should promote friendship and mutual cooperation to bring practical benefits to their people, Vietnamese Ambassador to China Dang Minh Khoi said.

Meeting with Special Envoy of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong Song Zhe on April 7 during his working visit to Macau and Hong Kong, the Vietnamese diplomat highlighted the growing relationship between the two countries.

He affirmed that growing political trust, continuing development in all fields, and similarities in political regime and social policy between the two countries are solid foundations for their ties to further develop.

Khoi stressed that Vietnam and Hong Kong reached significant achievements in economic, investment and trade cooperation, and Hong Kong is a crucial channel for Vietnam to attract foreign investment.

According to the ambassador, after the Vietnam-China land border delimitation treaty was signed in 1999, friendship and peace on the land borders shared between the two countries were enhanced, facilitating trade and cultural exchanges.

For his part, Song Zhe said he believes the visit will contribute to stepping up mutual cooperation between the Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions of China and Vietnam.

He also underlined the development of the two countries and their more steadfast relationship, as foundations for promoting the bilateral ties.

The host stressed that China attaches importance to the role played by Vietnam in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as in multilateral cooperation mechanisms such ASEAN+1 (ASEAN with China) and ASEAN+3 (ASEAN with China, Japan and the Republic of Korea).

Later the same day, the Vietnamese ambassador and his entourage left Hong Kong, concluding their working visit to Hong Kong and Macau from April 4 to 7.-VNA