State President Lương Cường and Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayaka witness the signing of an agreement between the two governments on cooperation and mutual assistance in the field of customs on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo Lâm Khánh

HÀ NỘI — State President Lương Cường on Monday held talks with Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayaka after hosting an official welcome ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Hà Nội.

President Dissanayaka is paying a state visit to Việt Nam and is here to attend the United Nations Day of Vesak from May 4-6.

In an atmosphere of openness, sincerity, trust and mutual understanding, President Cường warmly welcomed President Dissanayaka, assessing the visit as having important significance and taking place on the occasion of the two countries celebrating 55 years of diplomatic relations.

He thanked President Dissanayaka for accepting the invitation and in delivering the opening speech at the United Nations Day of Vesak in Việt Nam, as well as sending a congratulatory letter to Vietnamese leaders on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of National Reunification. 

The Vietnamese President congratulated Sri Lanka on its important socio-economic achievements since the new President and Government began to lead the country, especially the recovery from the crisis, maintaining positive economic growth and improving the national credit rating, expressing his confidence that Sri Lanka will successfully achieve development goals in the future.

President Cường thanked Sri Lanka for supporting Việt Nam in the past struggle for national independence and for cooperating closely with the nation in the current process of national construction.

Expressing his joy at visiting Việt Nam, the first Southeast Asian country he has visited since taking office, President Dissanayaka expressed his admiration for Việt Nam's impressive development after 50 years of liberating the South and reunifying the country. Việt Nam has risen to become one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with GDP ranking 32nd in the world, playing an important role and position in the region and the world, he said.

The President said that the leaders and people of Sri Lanka always reserve warm sentiments for Việt Nam and late President Hồ Chí Minh and admire the country's indomitable fighting spirit during the wars, as well as in building the Fatherland, and wish to learn from the Vietnamese development experience.

State President Lương Cường and Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayaka at their talks in Hà Nội on May 5. — VNA/VNS Photo Lâm Khánh

The two sides agreed that high political trust, warm friendship, sincere support between the two countries and the sharing of common visions and viewpoints are the foundation for developing the bilateral relations to new heights. In that spirit, the two sides agreed to continuously consolidate the traditional friendship and mutual understanding, promote more frequent high-level visits and enhance cooperation between the two ruling parties, exchanges between people's organisations and friendship associations of the two countries.

They agreed to improve the effectiveness of cooperation mechanisms, especially the Joint Committee for Economic, Trade, Scientific and Technical Cooperation to review and propose specific cooperation measures, amend, supplement and promote the signing of cooperation agreements in accordance with the new situation and study the possibility of upgrading relations when conditions are sufficient and agreed by both sides.

They agreed to promote more substantive collaboration in the fields of defence, security, and justice and encourage increased exchanges and interactions, expanded training and capacity building cooperation, and coordination in combating transnational crime and cybercrime, and law enforcement, while considering the signing of defence, security and justice cooperation agreements.

Emphasising the significant potential for bilateral economic, trade, and investment cooperation, both sides stressed the need for breakthrough measures to effectively tap this potential. They agreed to promote the signing of economic, trade, and investment cooperation agreements, facilitate market access for each country’s competitive goods, diversify supply chains, and strive to achieve a two-way trade target of US$1 billion and further increase two-way investment.

They also agreed to further expand ties in key areas such as agriculture, food security, science and technology, education, culture, religion, healthcare, tourism and people-to-people exchanges, enhance experience sharing in sea-based economy development, maritime transport and connectivity and encourage airlines of both countries to consider opening direct flights.

The Sri Lankan President affirmed that he will create favourable conditions for Vietnamese businesses to invest in strategic sectors with high demand in his country, including infrastructure, telecommunications, education, healthcare, hi-tech agriculture, farm processing, food, retail, logistics and tourism.

He also committed to continuing support for the Vietnamese community in Sri Lanka, including Vietnamese monks and nuns studying Buddhist teachings.

Amid complex global and regional developments, the two leaders emphasised their commitments to maintaining close coordination and mutual support at international and regional organisations, particularly the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, South-South cooperation and on issues of shared interest.

They reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security and freedom of navigation, highlighting the need to respect and adhere to international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

President Cường welcomed Sri Lanka’s efforts to strengthen ties and foster more substantive cooperation with Southeast Asian countries and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

President Dissanayaka invited his Vietnamese counterpart to visit Sri Lanka in the future, an invitation happily accepted by State President Lương Cường.

Following the talks, the two Presidents witnessed the signing of five cooperation agreements in the fields of diplomacy, trade, customs, agriculture and machinery manufacturing. — VNS