President Truong Tan Sang has met with his Philippine counterpart Benigno Aquino III, attended a round-table talk with US businesses and visited the Vietnam Embassy in Beijing.

Meeting with President Benigno Aquino III on the fringes of the 22nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting on November 9, President Sang noted with satisfaction the fine development of the friendship and all-around cooperation between the two nations.

The two sides agreed to hold the first meeting of the joint working committee to be hosted by the two Foreign Ministers on the establishment of a strategic partnership in the future.

President Truong Tan Sang meeting with his Philippine counterpart Benigno Aquino III (R).

The two leaders also exchanged views on measures to augment bilateral cooperation in politics, foreign affairs, economics, trade, finance, education, culture, tourism and marine and oceanographic research.

They agreed upon stronger measure to elevate bilateral trade turnover to US$3 billion by 2016.

In regard to regional and international issues of shared concern, both sides underlined the need to maintain peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation in the region, peacefully resolve disputes on the basis of respect for international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

They also consented to work together on successfully building an ASEAN Community by 2015, provide mutual support when the Philippines and Vietnam host APEC Year 2015 and APEC Year 2017, respectively.

On the occasion, President Sang invited President Benigno Aquino III to visit Vietnam and his invitation was accepted with pleasure. President Benigno Aquino III, in turn, also invited Sang to visit the Philippines soon.

Earlier, President Sang received numerous leading US entrepreneurs representing the US Business Alliance at APEC on a working visit to Beijing for the APEC CEO Summit 2014.

“After nearly 20 years of maintaining diplomatic relations, bilateral ties have seen positive developments especially since the two countries established the comprehensive partnership. Many US groups have become trusted partners and pledged long-term investments in Vietnam as significant contributions to propelling bilateral relations forward.” Sang said.

For their part, US businesses appreciated the efforts and positive results Vietnam has achieved in macroeconomic stabilization and economic restructuring as well as comprehensive international integration.

They suggested a score of measures to fully utilize opportunities for enhancing regional connectivity through the APEC forum and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) which will add fresh impetus to boosting the comprehensive partnership between the two countries and the business communities alike.

Visiting the Vietnam Embassy in China the same day, President Sang was briefed by Ambassador Nguyen Van Tho on the Embassy’s activities in recent times. Sang praised embassy staff for overcoming difficulties to fulfill their assigned tasks.

The State leader called for their greater efforts to effectively implement agreements signed in a multitude of areas with a view to forging the friendship and comprehensive cooperation between two countries.

VOV/VNN