Vietnam aspires to boost friendship, all-around cooperation with Canada

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh made the statement at a June 4 reception for Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sahan in Hanoi, during which Minh highly appreciated his first visit to Vietnam, saying it would contribute to advancing defense cooperation between the two countries, thus creating great momentum to the positive development of bilateral ties in the future.

Minh proposed that Canada increase its support for Vietnam in personnel training and agreed to expand cooperation on such fields as the settlement of war aftermath, defense industry, and improvement in maritime security capability.

The two sides expressed their satisfaction with the positive and comprehensive developments in bilateral ties as evidenced by Prime Minister J.Trudeau’s official visit to Vietnam and his attendance at the APEC Economic Leader’s Meeting in November 2017 and the two countries’ establishment of a comprehensive partnership on this occasion.

In addition, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc is due to visit Canada and to attend the expanded Group of Seven (G7) Summit at the invitation of his Canadian counterpart Trudeau.

The Vietnamese diplomat affirmed Vietnam's support for and confidence in its contributions to the overall success of the summit. He said he hopes that the forthcoming Canada visit by PM Phuc and the talks between the two PMs will yield positive results, practically boosting the comprehensive partnership between the two countries.

Vietnam welcomes Canada's foreign policy of enhancing connectivity with the world, and the Asia-Pacific region, and placing importance on strengthening relations with Vietnam and ASEAN, Minh told his guest.

He urged both sides to boost regional and international cooperation for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world, continue to coordinate at important forums and mechanisms such as the United Nations, APEC, and ASEAN and CPTPP cooperation.

The Canadian Defence Minister, for his part, said he greatly impressed by the strong development of Vietnam after 30 years of carrying out the Doi Moi (Renewal) process and hailed the country's foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, diversification, multilateralisation of relations, and its rising international standing.

He highlighted Vietnam as an important partner of Canada in the region and wishes to establish long-term friendship and cooperation with Vietnam, including defense cooperation.

The establishment of a comprehensive partnership is seen as an important foundation and orientation for the bilateral relationship to grow and flourish in the coming time, in particular defense cooperation, he said while affirming his nation will continue to support Vietnam in training and improving its capacity to join the UN peacekeeping force.

Regarding international and regional issues, the two sides emphasized the importance of maintaining  regional peace and stability and affirmed their support for the settlement of disputes in the East Sea through peaceful measures without the use of force or threat to use force on the basis of respect for diplomatic and legal process in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and working towards a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).