Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan has said Vietnam and China needed to boost their economic co-operation and focus on key joint projects, especially in energy and projects connecting the two countries' railways and roads.

Nhan made the statement during his meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on May 10 in Beijing where he headed a high-ranking delegation to attend the sixth meeting of the Steering Committee for Vietnam-China Bilateral Cooperation.

He said the two countries needed to focus on building their relations based on three pillars: they were traditional neighbours so they needed to conduct straightforward and sincere discussions; they shared similarities in political regimes; they were both members of the United Nations so they needed to respect international laws and conventions.

He also suggested the two sides boost the implementation process of two key projects: the Vietnam-China Cultural Friendship Palace in Hanoi and the Vietnamese Culture Centre in China .

"These specific cooperation projects would contribute to deepen the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two parties, governments and people," he said.

Premier Li said he highly valued the bilateral cooperation mechanism of the committee and expressed his hope that this mechanism would uphold its role in strengthening the two countries' relations.

He also said he hoped that with this mechanism the two sides would join efforts to settle disagreements so that their relations would keep developing.

Li said China considered Vietnam a sincere friend and comrade.

The country also considered Vietnam 's development as its own development opportunities, he said.

Nhan delivered Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's invitation to Li to pay an official visit to Vietnam, which the latter accepted with pleasure.

Nhan earlier met with State Councilor Yang Jiechi.-VNA