Vientiane (VNA) – Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau affirmed their determination to further deepen the Vietnam-Canada comprehensive partnership while meeting on the sidelines of the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits and Related Summits in Vientiane, Laos, on October 10.
PM Chinh affirmed that Vietnam highly values its comprehensive partnership with Canada and welcomes Canada’s increasing connection with the region, both bilaterally and through ASEAN mechanisms.
He suggested both countries work to fully leverage economic, trade and investment cooperation opportunities, fortify defence collaboration, including Canada’s support for Vietnam’s participation in the United Nations peacekeeping operations.
Additionally, the Vietnamese leader called for stronger cooperation in labour training, support for small and medium-sized enterprises, gender equality, poverty reduction, protection of women's and children's rights, climate change response and food security.
Agreeing with PM Chinh's proposals, PM Trudeau proposed increasing all-level meetings and effectively tapping the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Both leaders agreed to effectively implement existing defence cooperation agreements, including the Memorandum of Understanding on defence cooperation for the 2024-2026 period, collaboration in key areas such as labour, social issues, education, and people-to-people exchanges.
They also vowed to work closely together at global and regional multilateral forums, particularly the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the United Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and the Francophone community./.
