Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính (right) in talks with Pierre-Yves Jeholet, Minister-President of the Government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation of Belgium in Hà Nội on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính on Monday hosted a reception in Hà Nội for the visiting Pierre-Yves Jeholet, Minister-President of the Government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, a primarily French-speaking region of Belgium.

At the meeting, PM Chính said the Vietnamese Government always attaches great importance to developing friendship and multi-faceted cooperation with Wallonia-Brussels. He added that the visit of the Minister-President, which takes place on the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Wallonia-Brussels General Delegation in Việt Nam and as the two countries are looking to the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2023, will contribute to the advancements of cooperation in many fields between Việt Nam and Belgium and Wallonia-Brussels.

The two sides also agreed to effectively promote and implement cooperation in areas such as culture, health, education-training and expand to other potential fields like high-performance sports, conservation and the promotion of heritage values.

The Vietnamese leader noted that the Wallonia-Brussels delegation in Việt Nam is its only foreign representative in Asia. It has invested in many practical projects for Việt Nam in the past 25 years.

The PM also expressed his gratitude to the Government and Belgium for donating 100,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to Việt Nam in September 2021, praising the gesture as a sign of affection and friendship between the peoples of the two countries.

Minister-President of the Government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, congratulated the outstanding achievements of Việt Nam in reforms efforts as well as in the recent COVID-19 response, stressing that the region, as well as Belgium always sees Việt Nam as an important priority partner in the region and seeks to boost multi-faceted cooperation with the country.

During the meeting, the two sides agreed to strengthen contact and exchange of delegations at all levels, especially at high-level, committing to maintaining mutual support at multilateral forums and international organisations, especially within the framework of the Francophonie and the United Nations Human Rights Council that Việt Nam and Belgium were just elected to.

PM Chính expressed satisfaction at recent positive developments in bilateral trade, hoping that Belgium and Wallonia-Brussels, in particular, will facilitate Vietnamese agricultural products' access to the Belgian market.

He also expects the two countries' businesses to take advantage of the Việt Nam-EU Free Trade Agreement to strengthen bilateral trade.

PM Chính proposed that Wallonia-Brussels urge Belgium to ratify the Investment Protection Agreement between Việt Nam and the European Union (EVIPA) soon and suggested Belgium work with the European Commission on removing the IUU yellow card against Vietnamese seafood products.

PM Chính said that Wallonia-Brussels' projects had contributed to supporting Việt Nam in implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals on hunger eradication and poverty reduction, ensuring quality education, and improving health.

In that spirit, the Government leader wished the two sides to create conditions to promote cooperation between localities of Việt Nam and Wallonia-Brussels, requesting Wallonia-Brussels and Belgium develop conditions for the Vietnamese community to live, study and work, contribute to the development of the two countries.

The Wallonia-Brussels leader highly appreciated Việt Nam's increasingly elevated role, position and contribution to the maintenance of peace, stability and development in the region and the world; affirming their support for Việt Nam's position; as well as agreeing on the importance of settling disputes in the South China Sea by peaceful means based on respect for international law, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982. — VNS