Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (R) meets with Second Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brunei Dato Erywan Pehin Yusof in Hanoi on March 25 (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The foreign ministers of Vietnam and Brunei have stressed theimportance of stepping up affiliation in connectivity to boost trade, tourism andpeople-to-people exchange between the two countries.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and Second Ministerof Foreign Affairs of Brunei Dato Erywan Pehin Yusof met in Hanoi on March 25 onthe threshold of the state visit to Vietnam by Brunei Sultan Haji HassanalBolkiah.
Minh spoke highly of the positive development of the friendship andmulti-dimensional cooperation between Vietnam and Brunei as well as the close,efficient cooperation between the two foreign ministries and competent agenciesin preparing for the visit by the Brunei Sultan, saying the visit will takebilateral ties to a new height.
Host and guest discussed measures to deepen the bilateral ties, including themaintenance of high-level visits and the effective implementation of bilateralcooperation mechanisms which covers the organization of the second joint committeeon bilateral cooperation in Brunei in 2019.
They agreed to consider extending the exemption duration for ordinary passport holdersof the two countries and ratchet up cooperation in fields of the two countries’strength and potential, like defence, security, trade-investment, energy,agriculture, marine cooperation, labour, education and training.
Regarding international issues and bilateral cooperation at multilateralforums, the officials agreed to coordinate in promoting solidarity and centralrole of ASEAN in regional strategic and security issues, especially during thetime Vietnam and Brunei taking on the ASEAN Chair role in 2020 and 2021,respectively.
They emphasized support for the settlement of disputes in the East Sea bypeaceful measures based on international law, including the United NationsConvention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS), not using or threatening to useforce, abiding by the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea(DOC), and quickly completing a comprehensive, practical, effective, andlegally-binding Code of Conduct on the East Sea (COC).-VNA
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