Vietnam wishes to continue to bolster cooperative relations with the Philippines to achieve new accomplishments and realise the potential of the two countries, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has said.

PM Dung made the statement while receiving the newly appointed Philippine Ambassador Jerril Galban Santos in Hanoi on March 9.

PM Dung expressed his pleasure at the increasing and comprehensive development of two-way ties, which have brought practical benefit to both nations in economics, trade, investment, labour and national security.

He suggested that the up-coming Vietnam-Philippines inter-government committee meeting review the results of past cooperation to seek measures to increase the effectiveness of their joint efforts in future.

He also congratulated Jerril Galban Santos over his appointment as the new ambassador to Vietnam and expressed his hope that the diplomat will spare no effort to contribute to strengthening friendly relations between the two countries.

Vietnamese government will create favourable conditions for the ambassador to fulfil his duties in a spirit of cooperation and for the benefit of peace and development, the PM said.

For his part, Ambassador Jerril Galban Santos pledged to try to boost and extend cooperative projects, contributing to the traditional, strong relations between the governments of the two countries./.