Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính (right) and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez before their official talks on April 9. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính on Wednesday held talks with his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sánchez, who is on a three-day official visit to Việt Nam, during which the two sides agreed to boost comprehensive cooperation between the two countries in the coming time.

The host leader highlighted the significance of the visit – the first by a Spanish government leader since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, expressing his belief that it opens up a new chapter in bilateral ties, elevating the Việt Nam–Spain Strategic Partnership to new heights.

Việt Nam attaches importance to and wishes to further strengthen multifaceted cooperation with Spain – the first strategic partner of Việt Nam in the EU, Chính stated. He highly evaluated Spain for its significant achievements in socio-economic development and its active role in addressing global issues.

The Vietnamese leader emphasised similarities in geostrategic locations, rich cultural tradition and history, and hospitable people between the two countries, saying that these serve as catalysts for deepening comprehensive cooperation across multiple areas, from politics - diplomacy, trade - investment, to strategic fields such as defence - security, science - technology, infrastructure, renewable energy, and sustainable development.

For his part, Pedro Sánchez stated that his visit is expected to pave the way for more high-level visits between the two countries in the future. He noted the significant untapped potential for cooperation between the two countries, and agreed to work with Việt Nam toward establishing a comprehensive strategic partnership in the coming time.

The guest showed his impression of Việt Nam's strong economic growth in recent times, particularly the Southeast Asian nation’s efforts to advance breakthroughs in science, technology, and national digital transformation. He affirmed that Việt Nam is one of Spain’s top priority partners in ASEAN and that the European nation desires to further step up comprehensive cooperation with Việt Nam – a proactive and responsible member in the Asia-Pacific region.

He also noted the growing interest among Spanish businesses and tourists in visiting Việt Nam and exploring opportunities for investment and trade, especially in areas of railway and urban metro systems, energy, and aviation.

In an atmosphere of trust and openness, the two leaders engaged in in-depth discussions on major orientations for cooperation, aiming to deepen the Việt Nam–Spain Strategic Partnership in a more substantive, practical, and effective manner.

The leaders agreed to strengthen delegation exchanges and meetings at all levels and across all Party, State, Government, and parliament channels; implement effectively existing bilateral cooperation mechanisms, and consider the possibility to set up new sectoral cooperation frameworks.

They tasked their respective Ministries of Foreign Affairs with continuing coordinating efforts to promote bilateral ties, and exploring potential areas of cooperation that could pave the way for upgrading the relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership in the time to come.

PM Chính stressed that the Vietnamese Government is upholding its guiding principles of being “calm, resilient, flexible, and creative,” and pursuing a policy of “avoiding confrontation, and persisting in dialogue.” He added that Việt Nam is restructuring its economy toward a green and sustainable model to proactively respond, and enhance its internal capacity and resilience against external shocks that may impact the country's overall development.

The host affirmed that the country is implementing various financial and fiscal support policies, as well as ensuring seamless infrastructure, transparent institutions, and smart governance to reduce input costs, improve competitiveness of domestic businesses, and maintain a stable, safe, and transparent investment and business environment, thus providing a solid foundation for long-term investment and business of foreign companies in Việt Nam.

PM Chính said Việt Nam is focusing on diversifying markets, products, and supply chains.

Both leaders underscored the pivotal role of economic, trade, and investment cooperation as a key pillar of the countries’ strategic partnership. They agreed to effectively implement the EU-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and their freshly signed bilateral financial cooperation protocol. Furthermore, both sides aim to convene the inaugural session of their joint economic, trade, and investment committee this year to unlock their economies' full potential and complementary strengths, with the goal of surpassing US$8 billion in bilateral trade.

The Spanish PM pledged to advocate for the swift ratification of the EU-Việt Nam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) by remaining EU member states and to push for the European Commission to lift its IUU yellow-card warning on Vietnamese seafood exports.

He also called on Việt Nam to ease non-tariff administrative procedures and open its market further to Spanish agricultural and poultry products, promoting balanced trade growth. PM Sánchez expressed appreciation for Việt Nam's continued visa exemption extension for Spanish citizens, fostering tourism, cultural exchanges, and people-to-people ties.

Both sides agreed to deepen cooperation in education, culture, sports, and tourism, as well as in sustainable agriculture, localitity-to-locality and people-to-people partnerships, human resource development, and defence-security collaboration. Areas of focus include defence industry cooperation, counter-terrorism efforts, transnational crime prevention, UN peacekeeping missions, and war legacy resolution in Việt Nam. In addition, Việt Nam and Spain will explore joint work in emerging fields such as science and technology, innovation, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and digital transformation.

PM Chính proposed exploring the possibility of a direct flight route between Việt Nam and Spain to boost tourism and people-to-people exchanges. He also welcomed the progress in bilateral cooperation on child adoption.

PM Sánchez commended the Vietnamese community in Spain for their positive contributions to the local economy and society and pledged continued support to facilitate their integration.

The two leaders affirmed solidarity, cooperation, multilateralism promotion, and upholding international law as key principles in addressing global challenges. They agreed to maintain close coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums and international organisations, particularly the United Nations and ASEAN-EU framework.

On this occasion, Sánchez praised Việt Nam's proactive role in global issues for peace, cooperation, and sustainable development. He confirmed that Spain will send representatives to the Partnership for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G) Summit, hosted by Việt Nam this month.

Chính stated Việt Nam is ready to serve as a bridge to foster cooperation between ASEAN and Spain, while also expressing hope that Spain would help enhance collaboration between Việt Nam, the EU, and Latin American countries.

Regarding the East Sea (internationally known as the South China Sea) issue, both leaders highlighted the waters’ importance for international maritime traffic. They affirmed their support for Việt Nam's and ASEAN’s stance on resolving related disputes peacefully in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), ensuring peace, stability, security, and freedom of navigation and overflight in the region.

On this occasion, PM Sánchez extended an invitation to his Vietnamese counterpart to visit Spain for further discussions on strengthening bilateral strategic partnership. PM Chính accepted the invitation and requested the two foreign ministries coordinate to arrange the visit at a mutually convenient time. — VNA/VNS