Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính had talks with the visiting Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Zbigniew Rau in Hà Nội on Thursday. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam always treasures and wants to strengthen its multifaceted cooperation with Poland, a traditional friend and partner in Central Eastern Europe, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính said during a meeting with Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Zbigniew Rau in Hà Nội on Thursday.

The PM thanked the Government and people of Poland for their donation of nearly 1.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine and eight tonnes of medical equipment to help Việt Nam overcome the pandemic and boost economic recovery, and stressed that the move reflected sincere affection and deep attachment between the people of the two countries.

Rau said he was impressed with Việt Nam’s socio-economic development achievements and stated that Poland wants to fortify its collaboration with the nation, the most important partner of Poland in Southeast Asia.

Regarding the Việt Nam-Poland relationship, PM Chính expressed his pleasure to see its positive progress and suggested the two sides increase the exchange of delegations, especially high-level ones and between sectors and localities, to boost political trust and mutual understanding, forming a basis for their bilateral cooperation expansion across all fields.

Poland has been Việt Nam’s biggest trade partner in Central Eastern Europe for years and the two countries’ economic and trade cooperation maintains a strong growth momentum despite COVID-19, the Government leader said, adding that bilateral trade stood at a high level in 2021 and 2022, over US$2.5 billion.

PM Chính recommended Poland to create favourable conditions for Việt Nam's agro-forestry-aquatic products to penetrate deeper into the Polish market; and encourage Polish businesses to step up investment in Việt Nam’s pharmaceuticals, food processing, and manufacturing industries.

He proposed the European nation soon ratify the EU-Việt Nam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) to facilitate equal and mutually beneficial investment cooperation between the two countries; and urge the European Commission (EC) to soon remove its yellow card warning on Việt Nam's seafood exports, meeting the interests of Polish and EU consumers and ensuring livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of workers in the Vietnamese fishing industry.

The host and guest exchanged views on a number of measures to beef up cooperation in education-training, culture-tourism, agriculture, and science-technology.

Rau pledged to encourage Polish ministries and branches to coordinate with Việt Name to concretise the PM’s recommendations, contributing to making the bilateral cooperation more practical and effective.

He expressed his desire to strengthen the bilateral partnership in areas where Poland has strengths such as IT, smart cities building, green technology, and environmental protection.

The PM and the Polish minister agreed that the two countries should strengthen cooperation at multilateral and regional forums.

Regarding the East Sea issue, they emphasised the importance of ensuring security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea as well as settling disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

PM Chính thanked the Polish Government’s support for Vietnamese expatriates in Poland as well as Vietnamese people in Ukraine who evacuated to the country. He proposed Poland further create favourable conditions for the expatriate community to stabilise their lives and make practical and effective contributions to the fine traditional friendship between Việt Nam and Poland.

Rau conveyed Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki’s invitation to PM Chính to pay an official visit to Poland soon. The Vietnamese leader said he will arrange a trip to Poland at an appropriate time. — VNS