Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister and ForeignMinister Pham Binh Minh highlighted improvements in Vietnam-Kazakhstan tradeties while receiving Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Akylbek Kamaldinov onDecember 4.

At the meeting in Hanoi, Deputy PM Minh notedwith satisfaction the progress in bilateral relations in various spheres, frompolitics, economy-trade, to culture, tourism and security.

Visits by the two countries’ leaders, with themost recent being an official trip to Kazakhstan by National AssemblyChairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan in October, have created a driving force formultifaceted cooperation.

He highly valued the initial improvements inbilateral trade since the Vietnam-Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) Free TradeAgreement took effect in October 2016, reaching 184 million USD in the firstnine months of 2017 which approximates last year’s figure.

The two countries need to devise measures tocontinue carrying out the trade pact in an effective manner, he said, addingthat Vietnam is ready to act as a bridge for the implementation of a free tradeagreement between Kazakhstan and ASEAN.

For his part, Deputy Minister Kamaldinov spokehighly of Vietnam’s socio-economic achievements over the past years andcongratulated the country on the successful APEC Year 2017.

He asked the two countries to promote thetraditional friendship and win-win cooperation in a substantive fashion, thusmeeting the aspirations of the two countries’ Governments and people.

[Infographics: Vietnam – Kazakhstan traditional relations]

Earlier, the Kazakh official had a politicalconsultation with Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Dang Dinh Quy.

The two sides agreed to maintain all-leveldelegation exchanges and political consultations to boost mutual understandingand bilateral cooperation. They will coordinate closely and support each otherat the United Nations, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-BuildingMeasures in Asia, and other international forums, particularly amid Kazakhstan’snon-permanent membership of the UN Security Council for 2017-2018.

At the event, the officials also discussedcooperation and security in Asia-Pacific. They underscored the importance ofpeace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation in the East Sea,peaceful settlement of disputes on the basis of international law, and notusing or threatening to use force.

They concurred in bolstering trade andinvestment ties and creating favourable conditions for the countries’businesses to partner in their strong fields such as agriculture, processingindustry, manufacturing, infrastructure building, and defence industry

On December 5, Deputy Foreign Minister Akylbek Kamaldinov will co-chair the 8th Meeting of the Vietnam-Kazakhstan Intergovernmental Committee for Economic,Trade, Scientific and Technological Cooperation with leader of the VietnameseMinistry of Industry and Trade in Hanoi.-VNA