Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on February 14 said that Vietnam always attaches importance to the friendship and multifaceted cooperative relations with El Salvador when receiving the Central America country’s Foreign Minister Alexandra Hill Tinoco, who is paying an official visit to Vietnam from February 14-16.

The PM praised the socio-economic development achievements of the Government of El Salvador led by President Nayib Bukele, particularly its efforts in COVID-19 control.

Welcoming Tinoco’s first visit to Vietnam as El Salvador's Foreign Minister, PM Chinh said that her visit and the opening of the Embassy of El Salvador in Vietnam will contribute to taking the two countries’ relations into a new period.

The PM suggested the two countries continue to effectively implement the political consultation mechanism between the two foreign ministries, maintain coordination and mutual support at international organisations and multilateral forums, and actively contribute to solving regional and global problems.

Chinh expressed his satisfaction at the positive growth of bilateral trade relations between the two countries, asking El Salvador to facilitate market access for Vietnam's key goods, especially agricultural and aquatic products.

He also proposed that the two sides will work together to identify products and areas where the two economies can complement each other, build a favourable legal framework for trade and investment, and strengthen the exchange of business delegations, thereby turning Vietnam and El Salvador into connecting points between the Central American and Southeast Asian markets.

For her part, Minister Tinoco congratulated Vietnam for its economic achievements and social security, saying that she believes in the success of the Vietnamese Government's socio-economic development and recovery programme, maintaining macroeconomic stability, and ensuring social security and sustainable development of the country.

She said that El Salvador has studied Vietnam's development model very carefully and learned experiences from it.

She affirmed that the Government of El Salvador attaches great importance to the role and growing position of Vietnam in the region and the world, and wishes to elevate relations with Vietnam to a new height, which is reflected in the appointment of an Ambassador-in-residence and the inauguration of the Embassy headquarters in Hanoi, one of the first El Salvador embassies in Southeast Asia.

The minister pledged to push for the implementation of measures to concretise PM Chinh's proposals, thus promoting the cooperation between the two countries.

Vietnam, El Salvador seek ways to foster cooperation

Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and his El Salvador counterpart Alexandra Hill Tinoco, who is paying an official visit to Vietnam from February 14-16, reached consensus on orientations and measures to enhance bilateral cooperation during their talks in Hanoi on February 14.

Accordingly, the two sides will step up the exchange of delegations at all levels, consolidate cooperation mechanisms and organise the second deputy foreign minister-level political consultation in the time ahead.

They will also work to foster cooperation in economy, trade and investment by utilising strengths of each side and providing mutual support in spheres, such as agriculture, garment-textile and electronic components of Vietnam, and tourism and fisheries of El Salvador, while facilitating the exchange of delegations of businesses.

Welcoming Tinoco’s first visit to Vietnam in her capacity as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Son spoke highly of El Salvador’s opening of its embassy in Vietnam on this occasion, calling it an important step contributing to strengthening the bilateral ties.

Vietnam attaches importance to the traditional friendship with El Salvador and hopes to deepen cooperation between the two countries, especially in economy, trade, investment, agriculture, food security, science-technology, culture, education and people-to-people exchanges, the minister affirmed.

He suggested the two sides maintain close coordination and mutual support at international organisations and multilateral forums.

For her part, Tinoco stated that the government of El Salvador, in its foreign policy, always attaches importance and wishes to boost relations with Vietnam.

Regarding the opening of the Embassy of El Salvador in Vietnam, one of the first two embassies opened by the country in Southeast Asia, the minister noted that it will contribute to promoting the bilateral relations across fields.

She agreed that the two countries will coordinate closely to expand cooperation both bilaterally and multilaterally, for the sake their people, and contributing to addressing global challenges. VNA