New York (VNA) – PrimeMinister Nguyen Xuan Phuc left New York in the evening of September 27 (localtime), concluding his working trip to attend the High-level General Debate ofthe 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly.

Earlier, the PM had bilateral meetings with top leaders of Cuba, Bulgaria, Croatia,Fiji and Saint Lucia, during which he briefed them on Vietnam’s developmentachievements and its foreign policy.

He asked these countries to supportVietnam’s candidacy for non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council forthe 2020-2021 tenure, and affirmed the country’s strong commitment tocontributing more to maintaining international peace and security.

The leaders appreciated Vietnam’sincreasingly important role in the region and the world. They expressed theirbelief that Vietnam would perform well the role as a non-permanent member ofthe UN Security Council, while pledging to maintain close coordination with thecountry within the framework of the UN and other international organisations.

Meeting President of Cuba’s Council of Stateand Council of Ministers Miguel Diaz-Canel, PM Phuc suggested both sidescontinue consolidating existing cooperation mechanisms, speeding up the establishmentof new ones, exchanging experience and increasing the efficiency of existingcooperation projects.

Diaz-Canel agreed to boost economiccooperation to match the two sides’ potential, and lauded projects Vietnam isimplementing in Cuba’s special economic zones.

While meeting Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, the Vietnamese leader askedBulgaria to continue encouraging its enterprises to explore investment andbusiness opportunities in Vietnam in oil and gas, bio-technology, informationtechnology, environmental protection and food processing.

He expressed his hope that Bulgaria willhelp speed up the European Union’s signing of its free trade agreement withVietnam this year.

The Bulgarian PM agreed to further developbilateral ties, hoping to welcome PM Phuc and other Vietnamese leaders to hiscountry.

At his meeting with Croatian President KolindaGrabar-Kitarovic, PM Phuc affirmed Vietnam’s willingness to create favourableconditions for Croatian enterprises, while suggesting both sides intensifydelegation exchanges and trade and investment promotion to raise bilateraltrade to 200 million USD in the next five years.

Agreeing with the Vietnamese leader’sproposal, Kolinda welcomed the two countries’ signing of an Avoidance of DoubleTaxation Agreement in July.

Meeting Fijian President Jioji Konrote, theVietnamese PM confirmed his country is willing to share its experience withFiji in agricultural development, food security, fishing and seafood processing.

Both sides agreed to cooperate closely inclimate change and sea-level rising response and maritime protection.

Exchanging views with Saint Lucia’s PrimeMinister Allen Chastanet, PM Phuc welcomed the two countries’ establishment ofdiplomatic ties on June 26, 2018.


He proposed both sides step up delegationexchanges, consider the establishment of several bilateral cooperationmechanisms and create favourable conditions for each other’s businesses to seekbusiness opportunities, particularly in agriculture and tourism.

On the same day, the Vietnamese Governmentleader met representatives from the Vietnam Permanent Delegation to the UN, theVietnamese Embassy in the US and the Vietnamese community in the country.

He also met several individuals who arefriends of Vietnam in the US. He thanked them for their support for thenormalisation process of the Vietnam-US relations as well as for Vietnam’srenewal and international integration cause.-VNA