The Vietnamese delegation to these events comprised ofDirector of the Foreign Ministry’s National Boundary Commission Nguyen DangThang while the Chinese delegation was led by ZhouJian, representative for border and sea affairs at the Chinese ForeignMinistry.
In the friendly, sincere, frank andconstructive atmosphere, they discussed work of the two working groups andvowed to seriously follow common perceptions of the two countries’ leaders,including the agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of issues atsea signed in 2011 and directions by the government-ranking delegation ofnegotiators on Vietnam – China boundary issues.
Both sides agreed to maintain the setroadmap and step up talks on the demarcation of waters beyond the mouth of theGulf of Tonkin, discussed cooperation for mutual development in the East Sea inline with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention onthe Law of the Sea to which they are members.
They agreed that the 12th roundof negotiations of the Working Group on waters beyond the mouth of the Gulf ofTonkin and the ninth round of negotiations of the working group on cooperationin sea development will be held in China at the end of 2019.-VNA