HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam is a very important partner for Azerbaijan, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Việt Nam Anar Imanov stressed during the ‘Diplomacy of Azerbaijan and Việt Nam: parallels, development, role in state building’ conference held on Tuesday in Hà Nội.

The conference was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of diplomatic service of the Republic of Azerbaijan and marked the visit of Ramiz Hasanov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan to Việt Nam.

Ambassador Imanov said Azerbaijan and Việt Nam have a long-standing friendship and historical similarities.

“Peoples of the two countries went a similar way to their independence. This is the path of struggle for freedom, the path of many sacrifices and greater efforts to build an independent state. Similar is also the role played by the leaders of our peoples – Heydar Aliyev and Hồ Chí Minh - in the history of our nations.

“The visit of the first President Hồ to Azerbaijan in 1959, and the visit of leader Aliyev to Việt Nam in 1983 played a crucial role in establishing friendship and partnership between our nations,” said Imanov.

Bùi Thanh Sơn, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Việt Nam, said the friendship between two countries has been developing rapidly.

“We actively join together with relating agencies to implement agreements signed between leaders of the two sides,” said Sơn.

“We will widen co-operation in various fields such as education, training, culture, economy and national defence.”

Deputy Minister Hasanov said one of the important tasks of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy is to develop co-operation with international organisations.

“Việt Nam is one of key partners of Azerbaijan in Southeast Asia. We strongly hope that Việt Nam will consider opening its Embassy in Baku as we believe in effectiveness of joint diplomatic efforts in bringing our bilateral relations to a new high,” he said. — VNS