According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, President Aleksandr Lukashenko was pleased to meet General Secretary To Lam again and warmly welcomed the state visit to Belarus by General Secretary To Lam and his wife along with the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, emphasizing that this was the first visit by a General Secretary of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam in the past 11 years.
President Aleksandr Lukashenko believes that General Secretary To Lam's visit will create new momentum for the two countries to strengthen cooperation in many fields in the coming time.
President Aleksandr Lukashenko affirmed that Vietnam is a great friend and an important partner of Belarus in Southeast Asia in particular.
General Secretary To Lam affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation with Belarus, the relationship that was founded by President Ho Chi Minh and the leaders of Belarus and has been cultivated and fostered throughout the process of national struggle and liberation, national reunification in history as well as national construction and development to this day.
The General Secretary emphasized that Vietnam considers Belarus an important partner in the region and hopes that this relationship will continue to develop for the benefit of the two peoples.
At the talks, General Secretary To Lam and President Aleksandr Lukashenko affirmed the importance of maintaining contacts at all levels, especially at high levels and between ministries, branches and localities of the two countries in bilateral relations, and emphasized the effectiveness of existing cooperation mechanisms with measures suitable to the situation and conditions of each country.
In the fields of economy, trade and investment, the two leaders highly appreciated the positive developments in recent times and agreed to exploit the potential for cooperation from the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the Asian Economic Union (EAEU), of which Belarus is a member, more effectively.
General Secretary To Lam suggested that the Belarus side study measures to create conditions for products such as agriculture, aquaculture, seafood, agricultural fertilizers, etc. to easily access each other's markets, thereby increasing import-export turnover between the two countries.
The two sides also discussed and agreed on important measures to expand cooperation to potential areas such as information technology, digital transformation, education and training, especially basic science, culture, arts and sports, including athlete training, scientific research, transportation, culture, tourism, people-to-people exchanges; affirmed that the two sides have signed a visa exemption agreement for ordinary passport holders effective from January 30, 2025 and the organization of cultural cooperation programs will create favorable conditions to enhance cooperation and exchange activities in the coming time.
After the talks, the two leaders signed a Joint Statement on the establishment of the Vietnam - Belarus Strategic Partnership and witnessed the handover ceremony of cooperation documents in the fields of defense cooperation, science - technology, justice, health, culture, radio and people-to-people exchange.
