Foreign Minister Phạm Bình Minh and his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi on Tuesday co-chaired the third meeting of the Việt Nam – Indonesia Bilateral Co-operation Committee in Hà Nội.— VNA/VNS Photo Nguyễn Khang

HÀ NỘI — Foreign Minister Phạm Bình Minh and his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi on Tuesday co-chaired the third meeting of the Việt Nam – Indonesia Bilateral Co-operation Committee in Hà Nội.

Reviewing the action programme for 2014-2018, they lauded the two countries’ ministries, agencies and localities for the effective and practical development of the bilateral strategic partnership, with growing political ties with high trust. 

The two sides maintained regular high-level visits and exchanges, particularly the visit by Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng to Indonesia last August that opened up a new chapter in bilateral ties. 

They agreed to facilitate high-level visits and meetings on the sidelines of international forums via the Party, Government, State, National Assembly channels and people-to-people exchange. 

Bilateral economic collaboration has seen huge development, with two-way trade hitting US$6.5 billion last year, up 16 per cent from 2016. The two sides promised to soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding on economic and trade defence. 

In particular, Indonesia vowed to recognise more labs and food safety quarantine offices of Việt Nam and soon expand imports of Vietnamese fresh fruits such as dragon fruit, lychee, longan, star apple and grape fruit. 

They committed to effectively implementing the Declaration on Joint Vision on Defence Co-operation for 2017-2022 and a letter of intent on cooperation between Vietnamese and Indonesian coast guards. 

Host and guest pledged to soon establish the defence deputy ministerial-level policy dialogue mechanism, increase collaboration in peace keeping, joint training for search and rescue at sea, extend coordination to logistics-technology, defence industry and crime prevention, while promoting consultation and mutual support in regional defence-security cooperation mechanisms such as ASEAN Defence Ministerial Meeting and ASEAN Regional Forum. 

Progress was also seen in collaboration in energy, aviation, culture, education-training and tourism. 

Indonesia promised to continue working closely with Việt Nam to build a new cooperation mechanism to deal with fishing issues in a spirit of humanitarianism. 

Discussing regional and global issues of shared concern, they reaffirmed mutual support for their bids to run for non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and agreed to co-chair each other’s initiatives in fields of interest at APEC. 

The Indonesian side will continue partnering with Việt Nam and other ASEAN member states to push forward the implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and enhance ASEAN’s central role. 

On the East Sea (South China Sea) issue, they discussed ways to maintain peace, stability, maritime and aviation security and safety, settle disputes in the East Sea by peaceful means, and fully respect diplomatic and legal processes in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). 

The two sides underscored the need to fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea, and soon reach a practical, effective and legally-binding Code of Conduct in the East Sea. 

The fourth meeting of the committee is scheduled to take place in Indonesia in 2020.

$10b trade target

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has expressed his belief that trade between Việt Nam and Indonesia will grow strongly in the future, soon reaching US$10 billion.

At a reception for Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in Hà Nội on Tuesday, Phúc stressed that Việt Nam and Indonesia are major trade partners, saying Việt Nam wants to co-operate with Indonesia in various realms. 

He told his guest that Việt Nam is pushing the improvement of the domestic business environment, urging Indonesian investors to expand their operation in the country. 

For her part, Marsudi called on the two countries’ leaders to maintain the exchange of visits in order to step up bilateral co-operation across fields, and the Governments to create the best possible conditions for businesses of both sides to co-operate with each other. 

The two shared the view that the fruitful collaboration between Việt Nam and Indonesia will contribute to consolidating and promoting co-operation and solidarity within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to which both countries are members. — VNS