Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan meets with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokaev in Astana on October 13. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI – Vietnamese Vice President Võ Thị Ánh Xuân met with the Presidents of Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan on October 13, as part of her trip to attend the 6th Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana.

Welcoming the Vietnamese leader, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokaev highly valued Việt Nam’s role and significant contributions within the CICA framework. He affirmed that Kazakhstan treasures the bilateral friendship and views Viet Nam as an important partner in the Asia-Pacific region.

Vice President Xuân expressed her delight that her visit coincides with the 30th founding anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties. She affirmed Viet Nam always attaches importance to the traditional friendship with Kazakhstan, agreeing to increase delegation exchanges via all channels and at all levels.

The two leaders shared the view that there remains much room for bilateral economic partnerships, especially in potential fields such as tourism, logistics, agriculture, and construction.

They agreed to further capitalise on advantages generated by the free trade agreement between Việt Nam and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), of which Kazakhstan is a member, and officially open a direct air route. They also concurred to raise the two-way trade turnover to US$1.5 billion by 2030.

At the meeting with Vice President Xuân, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed that Turkey considers Việt Nam the most important partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and wants to enhance bilateral cooperation and coordinate with Việt Nam at international forums and organisations, especially within the United Nations framework.

He underlined Turkey’s support for Việt Nam and ASEAN’s stance on the peaceful settlement of disputes on the basis of international law. He also agreed that both sides should work closely to develop connections in economy, trade, investment, tourism, infrastructure development, transport, and maritime economy on par with the potential and importance of the two countries’ relations.

Describing Turkey as one of the leading trade and investment partners of Việt Nam in the Middle East, Vice President Xuân called on both sides to continue coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums and international organisations while working to successfully hold people-to-people and cultural exchanges to mark the 45th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties in 2023.

She also asked for close coordination to tackle bottlenecks and further facilitate exports to each other’s markets.

Talking with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Vice President Xuân highlighted that Việt Nam always treasures the two countries’ traditional friendship and hopes to step up bilateral cooperation in all aspects. She proposed the two nations further strengthen their political ties through all-level delegation exchanges, and maintain mutual support at international and regional forums.

The Uzbek leader said Việt Nam is an important traditional friend and a trustworthy partner of his country in Asia, adding that he is impressed with Việt Nam’s considerable achievements in economic development, social security, poverty reduction, and international integration over the last three decades since the Đổi mới (Reform) period began.         

The two leaders held that it is necessary to further promote economic, trade, and investment ties so that the relations match with the faithful and sincere political ties between the two countries.

They also agreed to organise the 8th meeting of the Inter-Governmental Committee early; consider the establishment of partnerships in producing rice, textile -  garment, cotton, electronic components, and household appliances; and consider the launching of a direct air route to facilitate transport, people-to-people exchange, and tourism cooperation. VNS