On the afternoon of April 1, Politburo member and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with King Philippe of Belgium.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh recalled the impressions and good results during his official visit to Belgium in December 2022; believing that King Philippe's visit to Vietnam this time will create momentum, bringing the friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Belgium in many aspects to new heights, and political trust will be increasingly consolidated, for the benefit of the people of the two countries, for peace and stability in the region and the world.
King of Belgium Philippe respectfully thanked Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh for his affection and support for Belgium in particular and the Vietnam - Belgium relationship in general.
Sharing his impressions of Vietnam's outstanding socio-economic development achievements in recent years, the King of Belgium believes that Vietnam will continue to develop and successfully implement the development goals by 2030 and 2045.
The Prime Minister and the King of Belgium expressed their satisfaction with the good development of the Vietnam- without France friendship and cooperation in many aspects over the past 50 years; agreed to continue to deepen cooperation in traditional fields such as economy, culture - arts, tourism, cooperation between localities; actively and effectively implement the contents of the Strategic Partnership on Agriculture to respond to non-traditional challenges such as climate change, natural disasters, and epidemics.
The Belgian side highly appreciated Vietnam's role and position in the region, wishing to deepen the bilateral relationship in the fields of education - training, healthcare, seaports, green energy, science and technology and innovation; agreed to create conditions for businesses of the two countries to increase investment and business activities in Vietnam and Belgium.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh thanked the Belgian Government for its valuable support for Vietnam in the cause of national construction and development; hoped that Belgium would soon have a specific project to implement the Resolution to support victims of Vietnamese Agent Orange, which was approved by the Belgian National Assembly in October 2023.
To continue to accompany and effectively contribute to Vietnam's rise in the new era, the Prime Minister suggested that the two countries should further promote substantive cooperation in areas where Belgium has strengths and Vietnam has needs such as high technology, circular economy, strategic infrastructure, human resource training; at the same time, he suggested that Belgium soon ratify the Vietnam - EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) and urge the EC to soon remove the IUU yellow card for Vietnamese seafood.
The two sides agreed to increase delegation exchanges and contacts at all levels and through Party, Government and National Assembly channels; promote coordination activities between ministries and branches of the two countries; effectively promote existing bilateral cooperation mechanisms; facilitate people-to-people exchanges and cooperation activities between the two countries; promote the bridging role of the Vietnamese community in Belgium, as well as the Belgian community in Vietnam.
On this occasion, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh respectfully invited Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever to visit Vietnam to continue promoting cooperation between the two countries.
