On the afternoon of January 29, at the Party Central Committee headquarters, General Secretary To Lam received European Council President Antonio Costa on his official visit to Vietnam.
At the meeting, General Secretary To Lam emphasized that the President of the European Council's official visit to Vietnam immediately after the 14th National Congress of the Party was successfully held and the Vietnam - EU upgrade to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership on this occasion is of particular importance, reflecting the deep relationship and strategic vision of Vietnam - EU relations in the new development stage.
The General Secretary highly appreciated Vietnam's position as the first ASEAN country to have a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with the EU, the highest bilateral cooperation framework, affirming that this is a historic moment in bilateral relations, reflecting political trust and very high determination of the two sides.
The General Secretary emphasized that in the new development stage with many intertwined challenges and opportunities, Vietnam and the EU need to strengthen exchanges and dialogues to further consolidate political trust, and specifically implement the orientations of the newly established relationship framework to bring relations to develop commensurate with the new level.
In that spirit, the General Secretary requested the two sides to promote political - diplomatic, economic, security - defense cooperation, cooperation within multilateral frameworks, maritime cooperation, science - technology and innovation. General Secretary To Lam requested the EU to support Vietnam in developing sustainable fisheries, towards removing the IUU yellow card.
For his part, European Council President Antonio Costa expressed his pleasure to pay an official visit to Vietnam immediately after the Vietnamese Communist Party Congress and on behalf of the EU warmly congratulated General Secretary To Lam on being re-elected to hold the highest leadership position, continuing to lead Vietnam's reform efforts in the new era.
With the upgrading of relations, the President of the European Council affirmed that the EU wishes to strengthen cooperation with Vietnam in promoting free trade, diversifying supply chains, green transformation, marine economy, transport infrastructure, national defense and security, freedom of navigation, responding to global challenges, for peace, cooperation in each region and in the world.
The President of the European Council affirmed that the EU will closely coordinate in building and implementing the roadmap for implementing the EU-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership framework practically and effectively, including continuing to promote delegation exchanges and high-level contacts, strengthening coordination at multilateral forums; effectively coordinating the implementation of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), promoting cooperation in security - defense, science - technology and innovation, especially in the fields of high-quality human resource training in technology.
Exchanging views on international and regional issues, the two leaders agreed to continue to coordinate to promote respect for international law, multilateralism and peaceful resolution of disputes under the United Nations Charter; and jointly promote global cooperation and common international agendas on responding to non-traditional challenges.
On this occasion, European Council President Antonio Costa respectfully invited General Secretary To Lam to pay an official visit to the EU soon. The General Secretary happily accepted the invitation.
On the night of January 29, European Council President Antonio Costa left Hanoi, ending his official visit to Vietnam from January 28 to January 29, at the invitation of President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Luong Cuong.
