Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bùi Thanh Sơn (right) welcomes his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo Lâm Khánh

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bùi Thanh Sơn has called on Singapore to open its markets to key export products of Việt Nam such as agricultural, forestry and fishery, textiles, and footwear products.

He made the statement during a meeting with his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan in Hà Nội on Monday.

The Singaporean Minister of Foreign Affairs is visiting Việt Nam to attend the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) High-Level Policy Dialogue from June 20 to 23.

The guest spoke highly of Việt Nam’s success in COVID-19 pandemic control and socio-economic recovery while praising Việt Nam for positive economic growth in 2020.

The Singaporean diplomat said his country attaches importance to friendship and co-operation with Việt Nam.

Singapore is ready to work with Việt Nam to get access to vaccine supply, advanced technology in tracing COVID-19 cases and testing as well as in promoting the working group on the mutual recognition of vaccine certification, Balakrishnan said.

The officials spoke of the key roles of the two countries’ foreign ministries in fostering bilateral ties in various sectors.

They agreed to closely co-ordinate to promote the exchange of delegations at all levels and high-level meetings as well as maintain co-operation mechanisms. The next meeting to be held will be the 14th deputy-ministerial-level political consultation later this year.

The two ministers also agreed on a number of measures to strengthen consultations between the two foreign ministries, especially on regional and global issues of common interests.

They vowed to effectively implement the Agreement on Singapore-Việt Nam Economic Connectivity and launch co-operative initiatives in logistics, e-commerce, high-tech agriculture, food processing industry, looking towards post-pandemic sustainable recovery and development.

They also agreed to develop Việt Nam-Singapore industrial parks (VSIP) towards innovation and environmental friendliness and to strengthen connections in production and processing to exploit the advantages of each side.

Emphasising the digital economy as an important development driver, the two ministers agreed to promote the establishment of a technical working group on the platform of digital partners, towards forming a bilateral agreement on the digital economy. They also agreed to bolster ties in education, culture, tourism and people-to-people exchanges.

At the meeting, the two diplomats discussed international and regional issues of mutual concern and agreed to work together at international and regional organisations and forums such as the United Nations, APEC, ASEAN, and the Mekong Sub-region as well as to ratify and implement free trade agreements.

Discussing the situation in the East Sea (internationally known as the South China Sea), they agreed to uphold peace, stability, security, and freedom of navigation and overflight in the sea in compliance with international laws, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea; fully implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (known internationally as the South China Sea) and finalise an effective and substantial Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea.

At the end of the talks, the two foreign ministers signed an agreement on training senior officials of the Communist Party of Việt Nam in 2021-23 to improve their capacity. — VNS

Singaporean and Vietnamese diplomatic delegation hold talks in Hà Nội on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo Lâm Khánh