Vietnam and China have agreed to step up their cooperation in less sensitive maritime issues during the eighth round of talks between working groups from the two countries, which was held in Qingdao, a coastal city in China’s Shandong province, from April 19-22.

Vietnamese border guards rescue a Chinese fishing vessel that ran aground in Vietnam's waters.

The Vietnamese working group to the event was led by Le Quy Quynh, Director of the Maritime Affairs Department under the National Boundary Commission of the Foreign Ministry. Meanwhile the Chinese side was headed by Zhoujian, a counsellor with China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During the talks, the two sides agreed to continue realising their all-level common perceptions, including the Vietnam-China agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of sea-related matters, as well as outcomes of the meeting between the two countries’ Deputy Foreign Ministers last April.

They reached a lot of common perceptions in accelerating the implementation of cooperation projects in less sensitive maritime issues they have already signed, including a project on a comparative study on Holocene-era sediments in the Red River Delta and the Chang Jiang River Delta, and another on the management of maritime and island environment in the Gulf of Tonkin. They also discussed other areas of cooperation.

In effectuating the agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of sea-related matters , Vietnam and China established working groups for cooperation in less sensitive maritime issues in 2012.

Since then, they have held eight rounds of talks and signed two cooperation projects, which have helped strengthen bilateral maritime cooperation.

VNA