Vietnamese Prime Minister, Myanmar State Counsellor hold talks

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc held talks with State Counsellor of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi on December 17, during which they discussed measures to expand all-around cooperation between the two countries.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) and State Counsellor of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi (Photo: VNA)
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) and State Counsellor of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi (Photo: VNA)

Aung San Suu Kyi congratulated Vietnam on its important achievements in socio-economic development and external work in recent times; and on its election as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2020-2021 tenure.

The two sides highly valued the strong development of the comprehensive cooperation partnership, and applauded the signing of an action plan for implementing the Vietnam-Myanmar comprehensive cooperation partnership for 2019-2014.

On defence-security ties, they agreed to expand cooperation in navy, military medicine, defence industry, logistics, rescue, border management, and defence intelligence, and in fighting cross-border crimes, terrorism, illegal migration, and money laundering.

They pledged to promote negotiations and signing of agreements on extradition and transfer of sentenced persons, on protection for confidential information.

PM Phuc thanked the Myanmar Government for permitting the import of Vietnamese dragon fruits, while appreciating the country’s efforts to remove difficulties facing Vietnamese enterprises operating in Myanmar.

He called on the Myanmar side to continue to remove technical barriers for Vietnam’s goods, create favourable conditions for Vietnamese firms to access more investment and business opportunities in Myanmar, speed up the licence granting and give incentives to Vietnamese investors in the country.

The Myanmar State Counsellor acknowledged PM Phuc’s above-mentioned proposals.

The Vietnamese leader applauded the Myanmar side’s suggestion on establishing an industrial park of Vietnam in Myanmar, affirming that the Vietnamese Government always encourages its businesses to invest in Myanmar and welcomes Myanmar’s firms to expand their activities in Vietnam.

The two leaders also discussed orientations to foster cooperation in other fields such as agriculture, telecommunication, mining, energy and construction.

Aung San Suu Kyi agreed to make it easy for Vietnamese enterprises to develop and join projects related to optical cable, telecommunication infrastructure, IT, social development, e-government development, oil and gas exploitation and service supply, and construction in Myanmar.

The two sides pledged to closely cooperate at regional and global forums, especially those within the UN, ASEAN.

They agreed on the importance of maintaining peace, stability and cooperation in the East Sea; solving disputes by peaceful measures in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); and ensuring security, safety, and freedom of navigation and aviation in the sea.

They affirmed to support the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and efforts to build an effective, substantive and legally binding Code of Conduct in the East Sea.

After their talks, the Vietnamese and Myanmar leaders witnessed the signing and handing over of cooperation documents, including an action plan for implementing the Comprehensive Cooperation Partnership for 2019-2024, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on agriculture and rural development cooperation, and a MoU between the two foreign ministries, and a diplomatic note amending the agreement on visa exemption for ordinary passport holders of both countries.