HÀ NỘI — Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Phạm Bình Minh held bilateral meetings with officials from the foreign ministries of Romania, Kazakhstan, Spain, Ireland and Bulgaria within the framework of the 14th ASEM Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (ASEMFMM14) in Madrid, Spain on Monday.

At the meeting between Minh and Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu, the two sides expressed their appreciation at the fruitful development of bilateral relations, especially following Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc’s visit to Romania in April.

They said the traditional friendship and contributions by overseas Vietnamese in Romania and those who studied in the country are the crucial foundations to promote bilateral cooperation.

The Vietnamese official called on Romania to continue to receive Vietnamese labourers and create favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community in the country to integrate into their host society.

In his meeting with Kazakhstan’s FM Tleuberdi Mukhtar, the officials agreed that bilateral relations have flourished, saying the free trade agreement between Việt Nam and the Eurasian Economic Union, of which Kazakhstan is a member, brings economic benefits to both countries.

The two sides pledged to continue coordinating at international and regional forums, especially when Việt Nam and Kazakhstan undertake their roles as chairs of ASEAN and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, respectively, in 2020.

Talking to Acting Spanish FM Margarita Robles, Minh congratulated Spain on its successful hosting of the 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP25) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the ASEMFMM14.

The two sides underlined the need for Việt Nam and Spain to maintain political meetings; deepen their economic and trade ties; enhance cooperation in renewable energy, infrastructure, tourism, hi-tech agriculture and environmental protection; and make more contributions to fostering ASEAN-European Union relations.

Meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart, Ireland’s Deputy PM and FM Simon Coveney affirmed that Việt Nam is an important partner of his country in the region, saying that there is great potential for the two countries to expand cooperation, especially in agriculture, food processing and technology.

They underlined their commitment to implementing measures to boost bilateral relations, including enhancing exchanges and establishing an intergovernmental committee on economic, trade and investment cooperation.

In their meeting, Deputy PM and FM Minh and his Bulgarian counterpart Ekaterina Zakarieva discussed ways to strengthen multifaceted relations between the two nations.

They agreed to jointly organise activities to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Việt Nam-Bulgaria diplomatic ties in 2020.

During the meetings, the officials congratulated Việt Nam on undertaking its role as ASEAN Chair in 2020, and as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in the 2020-21 tenure, affirming their willingness to coordinate with Việt Nam within ASEAN, the UN and other regional and global forums.

Minh also called on EU members to raise their voice to accelerate the EU’s ratification of the EU-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement.

On the sidelines of the ASEM FMM14, Minh also had short meetings with foreign ministers of Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Poland, the Netherlands, Norway and Slovenia as well as representatives from Switzerland, Croatia and Denmark to discuss specific measures to strengthen bilateral relations and multilateral coordination within the UN, ASEM and ASEAN. — VNS