Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng (R) receives Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Hà Nội yesterday. — VNA/VNS Photo Trí Dũng

HÀ NỘI — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said he wants to enhance the friendship and co-operation between Iran and Việt Nam in the coming time for mutual benefit as well as for regional and global peace and development.

The visiting State leader expressed his wish while meeting with Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng yesterday.

He confirmed Iran’s determination to implement effectively the co-operation agreements reached by the two countries during his visit to Việt Nam from October 5-7, including active preparation for the upcoming 9th Inter-governmental Committee meeting.

The President highly valued Việt Nam’s accomplishments in the “Đổi mới” (renewal) process and its external policy of independence and self-reliance, hailing the country’s active role in regional and global arenas, and wishing Vietnamese people to gain more immense achievements in the nation-building process.

For his part, Party General Secretary Trọng congratulated Iran on breaking foreign embargoes to stabilise politics, develop the economy and increase its position in the region and the globe.

He affirmed that the Vietnamese Party and State always pay heed to developing the friendship and collaboration with traditional friends in the Middle Eastern region, including Iran.

To promote the co-operative achievements over the past 40 years, the Party chief suggested the two countries increase all-level delegation exchanges, especially among businesses, to seek concrete measures to boost two-way trade and investment.

He also recommended promoting people-to-people exchanges and affiliation in culture, sports, education training and tourism to deepen mutual understanding and reinforce long-standing co-operative ties.

Joint statement

In a joint statement between Việt Nam and Iran on the State visit to Việt Nam from October 5-7 by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the two sides agreed to consolidate mutual consultation and support within regional and international fora.

The two leaders agreed to enhance bilateral co-operation in trade and investment and pledged to provide favourable conditions for businesses of both countries to increase access to each other’s markets to achieve a targeted bilateral trade turnover of US$2 billion in the coming time. Both sides shared the idea of co-operating in rice plantation in Việt Nam for export to Iran.

The two Presidents affirmed the importance of further co-operation in information and telecommunications, science and technology, engineering services, agriculture, energy and security, among other areas.

The Vietnamese side took note of the Iranian side’s proposals regarding the establishment of joint committees on investment and banking.

The two sides agreed to strengthen further consultation and the exchange of views in fighting against the illegal trafficking of goods, drugs and drug-related materials, transnational and cyber crimes, and to consolidate relevant co-operation mechanisms.

They agreed to boost co-operation in higher education, the exchange of professors and students, tourism, health, youth, and sports. In order to boost people-to-people exchanges, the two sides agreed to support and provide necessary facilitation to citizens of Việt Nam and Iran in visiting each other’s countries. – VNS