and the 9th round of talks of the working group for consultation on cooperation for mutual development at sea in Beijing on December 25 and 26.

Vietnam's coast guards on way to reach a China Coast Guard vessel to attend a meeting to review the joint fisheries inspection in 2019

The Vietnamese delegation was led by Phung TheLong, Vice Chairman of the National Boundary Commission under the Ministry ofForeign Affairs. Meanwhile, the Chinese side was led by Hong Liang, Director ofthe Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs under the Chinese Ministry of ForeignAffairs.

In a friendly, straightforward and constructiveatmosphere, the two sides exchanged opinions about the two working groups’activities. They affirmed the serious adherence to the common perceptionsreached by the countries’ leaders, including the 2011 agreement on basicprinciples guiding the settlement of sea-related issues

and directions given bythe heads of the governmental-level negotiation delegations for border andterritorial affairs.

They shared the view that on the basis of theagreed road map and international law, especially the 1982 United NationsConvention on the Law of the Sea, to which both Vietnam and China are parties,the two countries will exert efforts to promote negotiations on thedelimitation of the sea area beyond the mouth of the Gulf of Tonkin andcooperation for mutual development in the East Sea.

The officials also agreed to organise the nextrounds of negotiations of the two working groups in Vietnam soon.

During his stay in Beijing, head of theVietnamese delegation Phung The Long paid a courtesy call on Chinese DeputyForeign Minister Luo Zhaohui./.VNA