On March 28, at the Presidential Palace, right after the solemn welcoming ceremony took place, Politburo member and President Luong Cuong held talks with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the meeting, President Luong Cuong affirmed that the President's visit is of special significance after the two countries upgraded their relations to a Strategic Partnership in November 2024, vividly demonstrating the friendship, close cooperation and trust between the two countries, creating momentum to elevate and concretize the new framework of relations.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva was delighted and moved to visit Vietnam again after 17 years; at the same time, emphasizing this visit to affirm Brazil's importance and desire to strengthen the Strategic Partnership with Vietnam in the overall policy of developing relations with ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific region.
President Luong Cuong and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva informed each other about the economic and social development situation of each country, together reviewed, assessed the bilateral relationship in recent times and exchanged and agreed on directions and measures to continue developing the Vietnam - Brazil Strategic Partnership in increasingly deeper, more substantial and effective, as well as exchanged on regional and international issues of mutual concern.
The two leaders expressed their delight at the increasingly strong development of bilateral relations, especially appreciating the decision of the two countries to upgrade relations to a Strategic Partnership in November 2024, demonstrating the results achieved after 35 years of establishing diplomatic relations and sharing a vision for developing relations in the coming years. The two sides also highlighted the importance of signing and implementing the Action Plan for the implementation of the Vietnam - Brazil Strategic Partnership signed on this occasion; agreed to maintain exchanges of high-level visits and contacts; elevate and effectively implement existing cooperation mechanisms to review and promote agreed directions, measures and goals.
The two leaders agreed to direct relevant agencies to strengthen measures to facilitate bilateral trade and investment relations, and discuss the possibility of starting negotiations on a preferential trade agreement between Vietnam and the South American Common Market ( Mercosur).
President Lula da Silva announced that the Brazilian Government has decided to join the group of more than 70 countries that have recognized Vietnam as a market economy. The President thanked the Brazilian Government for recognizing Vietnam as having a market economy, demonstrating Vietnam's recognition of progress in economic innovation and international integration, contributing to promoting bilateral relations, aiming to achieve the goal of bringing bilateral trade turnover to 15 billion USD by 2030. The two leaders agreed to assign the Ministers to continue discussing and concretizing measures to implement this important decision.
Appreciating the unlimited potential and space for cooperation between the two countries, the two Prime Ministers agreed to continue focusing on promoting cooperation in areas of strength and mutual interest, including: National Defense, security, science - technology, clean energy, education - training, culture, sports and people-to-people exchanges; encourage the implementation of cooperation programs in each industry and field; actively negotiate and sign cooperation documents to perfect the legal framework, contributing to the smooth implementation of the Strategic Partnership.
Immediately after the talks, President Luong Cuong and President Lula da Silva and the high-ranking delegations of the two countries witnessed the signing ceremony and exchange of bilateral cooperation documents, including: (i) Action Plan for the implementation of strategic Partnership; (ii) Agreement on income-based employment for relatives of diplomatic staff; (iii) Agreement at the Government level on exchanging and protecting confidential information; (iv) Minutes of Understanding on the establishment of a Working Group to promote trade and industrial cooperation between the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Services of Brazil; (v) Memorandum of Understanding on football cooperation between the Vietnam Football Federation and the Brazilian Football Federation.
