President Nguyen Xuan Phuc (second from left ) his spouse (first, left) and Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha (second from right) and his spouse. (Photo: VNA) PresidentPhuc congratulated Thailand on its recovery and strong, dynamic developmentafter the COVID-19 pandemic and expressed his belief that Thailand willsuccessfully carry out the 2018-2037 national development strategy and become adeveloped nation soon.
Speakinghighly of Thailand’s role as Chair of APEC Year 2022, he affirmed that Vietnamwill do its best to contribute to the success of the upcoming APEC EconomicLeaders’ Meeting to be held in Bangkok.
PMPrayut emphasised the important significance of the President's visit toThailand, the first by a senior Vietnamese leader after the COVID-19 pandemicand on the threshold of the 10th founding anniversary of the bilateralStrategic Partnership, saying that the trip created new momentum for the twocountries to boost cooperation for mutual recovery and sustainabledevelopment. Vietnam is always an important partner of Thailand in theregion, he said.
Thetwo leaders spoke highly of the strong, dynamic development of the bilateralrelations in all fields, with economic cooperation being a bright spot.
Last year, Thailand was Vietnam's biggest trading partner in the Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with a record trade of 19 billion USD, up 18%from 2020. In the first ten months of this year, the figure rose by 16.9% fromthe same period in 2021 to 17.8 billion USD. Thailand ranked 9th out of 139countries and territories investing in Vietnam with 670 projects worth 13billion USD. The cooperation in national defence, security, culture, education,people-to-people exchanges and locality-to-locality cooperation has beenexpanded and developed. In the first half of this year, Vietnam welcomed 40,000Thai tourists while Thailand served 130,000 Vietnamese visitors.
Sofar, 18 Vietnamese cities and provinces have signed cooperation and twinningagreements with Thai localities. The Vietnamese community in Thailand nowgroups about 100,000 people who have well integrated into the host society.During the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam donated medical supplies worth 50,000 USDto Thailand while Thailand offered 300,000 vaccine doses to Vietnam.
Bothsides agreed to facilitate the exchange of visits at all levels, effectivelymaintain bilateral cooperation mechanisms, especially the Joint Cabinet Retreatmechanism co-chaired by the two Prime Ministers, effectively realise the Planof Action for Implementing the Thailand-Vietnam Strengthened StrategicPartnership for the 2022-2027 period signed during this visit.
Theypledged to soon raise two-way trade to 25-30 billion USD in a more balancedmanner and strengthen connectivity in different spheres. They lauded the twocentral banks for their success in the QR code retail payment connectivityproject that facilitates the two countries’ trade, investment and tourism.
The twosides agreed to encourage their enterprises to invest in each other's country.Accordingly, Vietnam called for Thai investments in green energy, automobiles,processed food, textiles and garment, electronics materials, chemicals andindustrial park infrastructure.
PresidentPhuc proposed Thailand restrict the application of trade safeguard measures andcreate favorable conditions for Vietnamese farm produce to access the Thaimarket. He encouraged Thai enterprises to expand investment and business in Vietnam,especially in new fields such as hi-tech, digital economy, e-commerce, greenenergy and infrastructure, toward using the local currency in bilateralpayments.
Thetwo leaders affirmed their commitment to further advance the StrengthenedStrategic Partnership between Thailand and Viet Nam which will contribute tosocio-economic resilience of both countries through the “Three Connects”strategy, namely connecting the two countries’ supply chains, connecting thetwo countries' grassroots economies and connecting sustainable growthstrategies between Thailand’s Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy Model andVietnam’s Green Growth Strategy.
Theyvowed to step up cooperation between localities and people-to-people exchangesas well as exchanges between the Vietnam-Thailand and Thailand-VietnamFriendship Associations, and step up the teaching of the Thai language in Vietnamand the Vietnamese language in Thailand.
President Phuc proposed the Thai Government and local administrations continueoffering support to the Vietnamese community in Thailand as well as thepreservation and upholding of values of Vietnamese cultural-historic sites inthe neighbouring country, especially three memorials dedicated to President HoChi Minh.
On regional and global issues of shared concern, the two leaders promised towork closely together to promote ASEAN’s unity and centrality; and build a Mekongsub-region of connectivity, peace and prosperity.
They agreed to maintain ASEAN’s common stance on the East Sea issue andunderscored the importance of maintaining peace, stability, safety, securityand freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea in line withinternational law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law ofthe Sea (UNCLOS).
Following the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of the Plan ofAction on Implementing the Thailand – Viet Nam Strengthened StrategicPartnership 2022 – 2027; the Agreement on Mutual Judicial Assistance in CivilMatters between Thailand and Vietnam; the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) onthe Establishment of Sister City Relationship between and Thailand’s Khon Kaenprovince and Vietnam’s Da Nang city; the MoU between the Board of Trade ofThailand and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and the BilateralTrade and Investment Facilitation Agreement between the Export-Import Bank ofThailand (EXIM Bank) and Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade ofVietnam (Vietcombank).
They later met with the press to inform them about the results of the visit andissued a Joint Statement celebrating 10 years of the Vietnam - ThailandStrategic Partnership: Opening a New Chapter of Stronger Strategic Partnershipfor Peace, Stability and Mutual Prosperity./.
VNA
