Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) and Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila at the joint press conference following their talks in Bucharest on April 15

The joint statement said during their talks, the two PMs were delighted at the sound development of the traditional friendship and multi-dimensional cooperation between the two countries and expressed their wish to step up the bilateral cooperation in potential areas.

The two sides stressed the importance of maintaining the regular exchange of visits, especially high-level, ministry, locality and business ones to create a strong impetus for the bilateral cooperation over trade-investment, education-training, security-defence, agriculture, food processing, energy, and oil and gas.

PM Viorica Dancila asserted that during its rotating European Union presidency, Romania will take necessary actions to push the official signing of the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the European Union-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), thus generating a momentum to deepen the relations between Vietnam and the EU in general and that between Vietnam and Romania.

According to the joint statement, PM Viorica Dancila stressed Romania’s wish to improve its trade balance with Vietnam, so the two sides agreed to soon hold the 16th meeting of the Vietnam-Romania Joint Committee on economic cooperation this year with a view to boosting the exchange of commodities and services that bring mutual benefits, especially farm and aquatic products, electronic and electrical machines and equipment, pharmaceuticals, machineries and equipment used in agriculture, construction and oil production, IT products and services, and equipment and spare parts used in the railway sector.

The two PMs committed to early determining procedures needed to be taken for the import of Romania’s farm products into Vietnam and the entry of Vietnamese farm produce in Romania.

The leaders hailed the initial positive outcomes in labour cooperation and asserted their determination to launch the memorandum of understanding on labour cooperation in order to accelerate their partnership in this potential area, while sharing their interest in ratcheting up bilateral cooperation in agriculture.

They agreed to boost cultural, sports and tourism exchanges to enhance mutual understanding between their people towards the 70th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties in 2020 and encouraged the implementation of cooperation agreements between localities.

The leaders emphasized the importance of increasing consultancy and efficient coordination at multilateral organizations and forums, especially the United Nations, the Asia-Europe Meeting, and Francophonie.

They committed to maintaining peace, stability as well as international security for the sake of all nations, and stressed their support for the settlement of disputes by peaceful measures on the basis of international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS).

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc thanked the Romanian Government for facilitating the Vietnamese community’s activities in Romania while PM Viorica Dancila spoke highly of the contributions by the Vietnamese community to stepping up the bilateral friendship.

The leaders were delighted at the outcomes of the official visit to Romania by PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc, considering it an important political event in the history of the two countries’ relations and a new impulse to enhance the bilateral relations across the board, according to the joint statement. VNA