Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Lê Hoài Trung. — VNA/VNS Photo Văn Điệp

HÀ NỘI — Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Lê Hoài Trung has congratulated the UK's Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper on assuming her new important position.

During their phone conversation on Saturday evening, Acting Minister Trung expressed his pleasure at the effective cooperation results achieved between the two countries in all fields recently.

He affirmed that Việt Nam always values and desires to promote further the strategic partnership with the UK – Việt Nam’s most important partner in Europe.

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said that the UK highly values strengthening friendly relations and cooperation with Việt Nam.

She expressed her confidence that with the cooperation of Acting Minister Trung, the foreign ministries of both countries will continue to play a good coordinating role, promoting cooperation in all areas to elevate bilateral relations.

Cooper affirmed that the UK Foreign Ministry would continue close cooperation, efficiently carrying out delegation exchanges, high-level contacts between the two countries and between their ministries and sectors.

Highly appreciating the positive developments of the Việt Nam-UK strategic partnership recently, Acting Minister Trung and Foreign Secretary Cooper agreed on the need to timely review cooperation aspects, strengthen coordinating roles and closely follow action plans implementing the strategic partnership framework.

They also wanted to push forward cooperation agreements between both sides, negotiate and sign new cooperation documents, and create a favourable legal framework to further enhance cooperation across fields.

The work aims to advance bilateral relations to a new phase, meeting the expectations of both peoples for peace, stability, cooperation and sustainable development in the region and worldwide.

On this occasion, Acting Minister Trung warmly invited her to visit Việt Nam at a suitable time. Secretary Cooper expressed her wish to soon meet Acting Minister Trung in person to discuss topics of mutual interest. — VNS