Foreign minister Bùi Thanh Sơn welcomes Greek counterpart Nikolaos Dendias on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Foreign minister Bùi Thanh Sơn proposed Greece create conditions for Vietnamese farm produce to enter its supermarkets during talks held with his Greek counterpart Nikolaos Dendias in Hà Nội on Monday.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikolaos is on an official visit to Việt Nam from July 31 to August 1 at the invitation of Foreign Minister Sơn.

Expressing his delight to welcome the top diplomat, minister Sơn affirmed that the visit would mark a new milestone in the cooperation between the two countries, contributing to implementing the outcomes of the visit to Việt Nam by Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou in May, helping to bring the friendship and traditional cooperation to a new period of development.

Minister Sơn thanked Greece for donating 250,000 doses of Astra Zeneca vaccine for Việt Nam to help the country overcome the difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and applauded Greece for presenting a donation worth EUR 50,000 for the Olympic Committee of Việt Nam to help Vietnamese athletes join this biggest sports event in the world.

The Vietnamese diplomat spoke highly of Greece's soon approval of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) and proposed the two sides coordinate closely to tap opportunities from the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), particularly in the fields of their strengths and development demand such as ocean-based economy, seaport exploitation and food processing.

He suggested the two countries soon end negotiations to sign a maritime transportation agreement and an agreement to avoid double taxation and proposed Greece mobilise the EU to soon remove the 'yellow card' for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing on Vietnamese seafood products.

The two ministers exchanged about the socio-economic development of each country and discussed measures to enhance cooperation in many fields.

They expressed delight at the development of bilateral cooperation which has been continuously promoted and expanded in many fields such as politics, diplomacy, national defence, economy, commerce and labour.

They agreed to continue to increase exchanges of visits of delegations at all levels and coordinate closely at multilateral and international forums.

Speaking highly of Việt Nam's achievements in socio-economic development in the past, Greek minister Nikolaos stressed the increasingly important role of Việt Nam in the region and the world and said he wished to promote cooperation with Việt Nam as part of Greece's policy for the Asia-Pacific region.

He proposed the two sides maintain cooperation mechanisms, including political consultancy between the two foreign ministries. He said he supported the sending of Vietnamese labourers to Greece to work.

He affirmed that he will mobilise EU countries to soon approve the EVIPA.

The two sides also discussed regional and international issues. Regarding the East Sea issue, the Greek minister said he supported Việt Nam's stance and stressed the consistent stance of Greece and the EU about the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security and freedom of navigation and the importance of settling disputes by peaceful measures in line with international laws, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. — VNS