Minister Ioannis Kasoulides and Deputy Minister Son ink agreement on exempting visa for holders of diplomatic and official passports (Source: VNA) Trade and investment have been defined as the cornerstone of the relationship between Vietnam and Cyprus in the coming time during Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son’s Cyprus working visit on September 11-12.
At his meeting with the host country’s Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides, Son delivered the country’s wish to broaden friendship and cooperation with Cyprus, given a lot of untapped potential that could bring mutual benefits for development.
Minister Ioannis Kasoulides said his country is interested in newly emerging markets like Vietnam and wants to establish result-oriented partnership.
To realise these wishes, both sides agreed to increase visit exchanges and take measures facilitating business contacts and connectivity in such areas as labour, trade, tourism service and forest product processing.
Son thanked Cyprus for its close coordination in settling properly the issues pertaining to Vietnamese labourers working in Cyprus, expressing his hope that negotiations on a related agreement would be launched and signed soon to provide a legal foundation for increased cooperation in the field.
The Cyprus side confirmed that their Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare and Insurance is ready to work together with the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs in facilitating bilateral long-term labour cooperation.
It handed over a draft agreement on double taxation avoidance to the Vietnamese side and expressed hope for the early signing of the document in 2015 as it could come up with a legal ground to accelerate trade between the two countries in the years to come.
Cyprus’s relevant agencies showed their support for Vietnam and the European Union signing a free trade agreement since they believed the document would contribute to boosting economic and trade ties between Vietnam and the EU generally and Cyprus in particular.
The two sides hailed bilateral collaboration in the organisation of culture, trade and investment promotion activities marking the 40th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties and pledged to increase the work.
They discussed regional and international issues of mutual concerns. Regarding the East Sea issue, the Cyprus side showed its support for Vietnam’s approaches in addressing dispute by peaceful means in compliance with international law, especially the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea.
During the visit, Minister Ioannis Kasoulides and Deputy Minister Son inked an agreement on exempting visa for holders of diplomatic and official passports.-VNA
