On May 8, at the Presidential Palace in the capital Colombo, immediately after the solemn welcoming ceremony, General Secretary and President To Lam and President Anura Kumara Dissanayake held talks.
Appreciating the bilateral relationship that is in the best development stage, the two leaders exchanged views on major directional cooperation directions to bring the relations between the two countries to develop more deeply and broadly, commensurate with the great potential available, and elevate bilateral cooperation for the benefit of the two countries, for peace, stability and development of the region and the world.
The two sides agreed to elevate political trust, comprehensively develop traditional friendly relations, multifaceted cooperation between the two countries; expand exchanges and contacts at high levels and at all levels, periodically implement bilateral cooperation mechanisms in all fields; promote relations between the two ruling parties; strengthen exchanges of foreign theory and policy, regional and international issues of common concern. The two sides agreed to make defense and security cooperation more substantive and effective, especially training the United Nations peacekeeping force, expanding cooperation in information exchange and defense technology transfer; strengthening cooperation on maritime security and cybersecurity.
Emphasizing the potential for trade and investment cooperation, the two leaders agreed to implement breakthrough measures to soon achieve the trade turnover target of 1 billion USD in the near future.
General Secretary and President To Lam affirmed that Vietnam is ready to supply the Sri Lankan market with products with strengths and Sri Lanka has needs such as food, foodstuffs, and machinery for agriculture.
For his part, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake affirmed that the Government of Sri Lanka will create favorable conditions and have preferential policies for Vietnamese businesses investing and doing business in Sri Lanka; promote cooperation in high-tech agriculture, adapting to climate change and green transformation.
The two leaders also agreed to strengthen agricultural cooperation, connect agricultural supply chains, post-harvest preservation technology, aquaculture, science and technology, digital transformation, share experiences in developing key commodities and implement mutually beneficial research and technology transfer projects between the two countries, towards the two countries having symbolic projects.
The two sides agreed to make cultural, educational, connecting and people-to-people exchanges an important pillar of bilateral relations. Accordingly, the two sides will expand tourism cooperation, especially spiritual tourism; open direct flights between the two countries, promote cooperation and linkages between universities and research institutes.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake proposed that Vietnam open branches of some major universities in Sri Lanka.
Responding to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's sharing about the feelings and respect of the Sri Lankan people for President Ho Chi Minh, General Secretary and President To Lam said that it is necessary to further promote cultural cooperation and requested Sri Lanka to support activities to honor President Ho Chi Minh as well as spread Vietnamese culture and language in Sri Lanka. General Secretary and President emphasized that the two countries need to be determined to immediately implement the agreements.
