At the meeting with Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar VNA/VNS Photo

JAKARTA Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bùi Thanh Sơn had separate meetings with Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong on the occasion of their attendance at the 56th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM-56) in Jakarta, Indonesia on July 12.

Meeting Minister Jaishankar, Sơn hailed India for supporting ASEAN in maintaining its solidarity and central role

The two ministers spoke highly of the strong developments in the bilateral traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership, especially in economy-trade. They agreed to thoroughly prepare for the exchange of delegations at high level and effectively deploy existing cooperation mechanisms such as the 18th Joint Committee Meeting.

In order to further reinforce economic and trade collaboration, they pledged to work with ASEAN member states to review the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA).

On the occasion, Sơn suggested that both countries consider advancing bilateral economic and trade agreement negotiations. He also proposed India encourage big corporations to increase investments and expand operations in Việt Nam, particularly in high-quality infrastructure development, petroleum and renewable energy.

At their meeting, Minister Sơn and Australian Minister Wong promised to make thorough preparations for mutual high-level visits.

At the meeting with Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong (L) VNA/VNS Photo

 The Vietnamese minister thanked the Australian Government for increasing official development assistance (ODA) to Việt Nam to 95.1 million AUD for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

Wong agreed to step up joint projects, including improving the capacity of Việt Nam's foreign affairs officials.

On global and regional issues, Wong reiterated Australia's support for ASEAN's solidarity and central role in regional stability, as well as ASEAN's common stance on the East Sea issue.

Sơn took the occasion to invite Wong to visit Việt Nam again soon and co-chair the fifth Việt Nam-Australia Foreign Ministers' Meeting. VNS