Hanoi (VNA) – General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee To Lam received Prime Minister of Thailand and leader of the Pheu Thai Party Paetongtarn Shinawatra in Hanoi on May 16, saying his guest’s official visit will open up a new period for bilateral cooperation that is more extensive and productive.
The host hailed the significance of the trip amid the thriving cooperation between the two countries and on the threshold of the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties.
He thanked Thailand for consistently supporting Vietnam since the latter began integrating into the region and the world, as well as for creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community to live, work, and study in the country.
PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra affirmed that she always treasures the close friendship and fruitful cooperation between the two countries and also between their leaders.
She informed her host about the outcomes of the 4th Joint Cabinet Retreat and her meetings with high-ranking leaders of Vietnam, particularly the issuance of a joint statement on upgrading the Vietnam – Thailand relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
The PM added she will direct relevant agencies of Thailand to work closely with the Vietnamese side to carry out the major cooperation orientations agreed upon by both sides.
General Secretary To Lam stated that Vietnam always attaches importance to and wishes to enhance the friendship and multifaceted cooperation with Thailand – a close neighbour with long-standing ties and also a leading trade and investment partner of Vietnam.
The upgrade of bilateral ties to the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is a historic milestone heralding a new chapter of the two countries’ relations and meeting their development demand in the new period, he opined.
Stressing some cooperation focuses for the time ahead, the CPV leader asked the two sides to reinforce political trust by promoting Party-to-Party, State-to-State, and people-to-people collaboration and frequently organising all-level mutual visits and meetings.
He said they should effectively maintain the Joint Cabinet Retreat and existing cooperation mechanisms between the two countries, and consider upgrading cooperation mechanisms to a higher level and setting up new ones.
Vietnam and Thailand need to boost connecting their economies and view this as an important pillar of bilateral cooperation, push ahead with the implementation of the “Three Connections” strategy, expand partnerships in the fields of green economy, digital economy and innovation, and encourage their investors to do business in each other’s countries, he added.
Cooperation in defence – security and crime combat should be strengthened while the negotiations on and signing of cooperation deals accelerated, the General Secretary went on, asking the two sides to pledge not to allow any individual or organisation using one country’s territory to conduct activities against the other, thereby helping with the stability and development in each country, as well as peace and stability in the region and the world.
As the two countries have many shared viewpoints and interests in some regional and international issues, he called on both to keep fostering coordination at regional multilateral mechanisms and the Mekong cooperation frameworks, especially the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) and the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), to build a united and unified ASEAN that holds the central role in the region.
Agreeing on her host’s view on the major orientations for bilateral ties, PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra noted Thailand will actively work with Vietnam to implement the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, particularly in the fields of economy, crime combat, and coordination of their stances on regional and international issues.
She took this occasion to invite the General Secretary to visit Thailand. The host leader appreciated the invitation and said he will arrange the trip at a suitable point of time./.
