PM Pham Minh Chinh (left) and his Romanian counterpart Ion-Marcel Ciolacu at the joint press conference. (Photo: VNA) Bucharest (VNA) – Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and hisRomanian counterpart Ion-Marcel Ciolacu held a joint press conference to announcethe outcomes of their talks in Bucharest on January 22.
PM Ciolacu highlighted the goal of lifting two-way trade to 1billion USD in the coming years, describing Romania as a bridge betweenVietnam and the European Union and Vietnam as an entry point for Romania to penetrate the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Both leaders affirmed their commitment to creating more favourableconditions for their goods to access each other's market. Romania wants to export its key products, such as agricultural goods andpharmaceuticals, to Vietnam. Additionally, Romania proposed supporting existingprojects and expediting new initiatives.
PM Ciolacu expressed his desire for collaboration with Vietnam inproducing African swine fever vaccines in Romania for supply to Romania and the broaderEuropean market. They also pledged to enhance partnership in energy,education-training, and other fields.
PM Chinh, for his part, said Vietnam wishes to further step up cooperation with Romania for the sake of prosperity of each country, well-being and happiness of their people.
He underscored the significance of his visit in reinforcingpolitical trust between the two nations, generating a new momentum for the extensive,effective and practical development of bilateral traditional friendship in thecoming period while expanding opportunities for collaboration in new areas,aiming towards self-resilient and sustainable development and contribute to peace, stability and development in the region and the world.
At the press conference, PM Chinh expressed thanks to Romania, the firstEuropean Union member state to make a noble gesture by providing hundreds ofthousands of COVID-19 vaccine doses and medical equipment for Vietnam, helpingthe country overcome the pandemic soon and reopen its door for economic recovery.
He hailed Romania for playing an active role in signing the EU-VietnamFree Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and being among the first EU countries to ratifythe EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA).
According to the Vietnamese leader, both sides promised tocontinue facilitating the exchange of visits at all levels, especially at highlevel, and via all channels to strengthen political trust and mutualunderstanding.
They willfurther uphold bilateral cooperation mechanisms, particularly theInter-Governmental Committee for Economic Cooperation and continue to fully andeffectively implement the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).
PM Chinh proposed Romania urge other EU member nations to soon ratify the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) and push for the European Commission (EC)'s removal of its "yellowcard" warning against Vietnamese seafood.
They vowed to strengthen collaboration in education and researchbetween universities in high-tech engineering, information technology,agriculture and healthcare; in culture-sports- tourism, sci-tech, informationand communication, agriculture, labour, and locality-to-locality cooperation.
TheVietnamese leader said both sides had agreed to continue close and effectivecoordination at the United Nations, ASEM, ASEAN, and the EU to jointly addressregional and global challenges.
The Vietnamese and Romanian PMs witness the signing of cooperation documents. (Photo: VNA) Regarding global and regional issues, including the East Seaissue, they agreed to support the peaceful settlement of disputes inaccordance with international law, particularly the 1982 United NationsConvention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). They also expressed their support for the practical and effective negotiations on a Code of Conduct in the East Sea(COC).
In his view, their biggest barrier is geographical distance.However, this obstacle can be overcome through effective digitaltransformation, e-commerce, and modern transport means which help connectthe two economies, enhance people-to-people exchanges and promote tourism.
On this occasion, he thanked the Romanian Government and people forcreating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community living in theEuropean nation, who serve as a bridge for friendly relations between the twocountries.
Following the talks, the host andguest witnessed the signing of 19 cooperation agreements between the twocountries’ ministries, agencies and localities; and 15 memoranda ofunderstanding on cooperation between their universities./.
