Hanoi (VNA) – Party General Secretary and President Nguyen PhuTrong  and visiting Sultan of Brunei HajiHassanal Bolkiah agreed to lift the bilateral relations to a comprehensivepartnership at their talks on March 27.

Welcomingthe Sultan, Trong said that Bolkiah’s second visit to Vietnam after 21 yearshas great significance, marking the two countries’ friendship and cooperation, andupgrading it to a new height.

The twoleaders exchanged notes on the bilateral relations as well as regional andinternational issues of mutual concern.

Theystressed that the establishment of the comprehensive partnership is a result ofpositive and sustainable developments in bilateral relations over the recentpast, thus renewing motivation to enhance bilateral collaboration in a moreeffective and practical manner, especially in politics, defence-security,trade, investment, education, people-to-people diplomacy, as well ascooperation within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and othermultilateral frameworks.

Both sidesagreed to intensify all-level delegation exchanges through all channels tostrengthen political trust and mutual understanding so as to create a firm foundationfor cooperation in all fields.

They alsohighlighted the importance of maintaining the effective implementation of theJoint Commitment on Bilateral Cooperation, and considered the establishment ofnew cooperative mechanisms.

Both hostand guest confirmed that potential for bilateral economic cooperation has yetto be fully tapped, and agreed to strive for 500 million USD in two-way trade atan early date, through trade and investment promotion as well as businessconnectivity activities.

Tronglauded Brunei for remaining the fourth largest ASEAN investor in Vietnam, withnearly 200 projects totalling over 1 billion USD. He committed that Vietnamwill continue creating favourable conditions for Bruneian enterprises to dobusiness and investment in Vietnam, particularly in important fields such asinfrastructure, energy, high-tech agriculture and industry, food processing,tourism, and services.

The BruneiSultan pledged to support Vietnam produce products that meet internationalhalal standards in order to approach Muslim markets.

Laudingnational defence-security cooperation as a spotlight in bilateral relationsover the years, both leaders spoke highly of the effective implementation ofthe memorandum of understanding (MoU) on defence cooperation in 2005 and theMoU on naval cooperation in 2013.

They agreedto work closely together at multilateral defence forums, especially within theASEAN and ASEAN frameworks, and highlighted the importance of securitycollaboration amid regional security challenges.

The twosides promised to share experience and expand partnership in the fight againsttrans-national, organised, human trafficking, terrorist, and cyber crimes; aswell as discussed the signing of agreements on extradition, judicial assistance,and transfer of sentenced persons.

The twoleaders welcomed the government-level agreement on the establishment of ahotline to support fisheries at sea. They also pledged to further expandaquaculture cooperation, share information regarding legal enforcement at sea, andcope with security challenges at sea in order to ensure maritime safety andfreedom.

Furthermore,they discussed measures to enhance culture-education ties, aviationconnectivity, and the facilitation of immigration procedures so as to raisemutual understanding and the bilateral friendship.

The BruneiSultan vowed to consider the host’s proposal to amend the visa waiver agreementby increasing the duration of non-visa stay for diplomatic, official, andgeneral passport holders.

On regionaland global issues of shared concern, the guest congratulated Vietnam forsuccessfully hosting the second DPRK-USA summit in February, thereby improvingthe country’s stature in the region and the world.

The twonations will work closely together as Vietnam and Brunei assume the roles ofASEAN Chair in 2020 and 2021, respectively. They will contribute to the processof building the ASEAN Community; effectively realise the ASEAN Community Vision2025; step up linkage collaboration; narrow the development gap; deepenexternal relations; and uphold ASEAN’s central role in the regionalarchitecture in the principles of openness, transparency, and inclusiveness.

Theyconsented to continue cooperating and coordinating closely at othermultilateral forums, particularly the United Nations, ASEAN, the Asia-PacificEconomic Cooperation (APEC), and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). Meanwhile,they will promote regional economic connectivity via multilateral economicagreements to which both of them are members, such as the Comprehensive andProgressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTTP) and the RegionalComprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Reiteratingtheir consistent stance on the East Sea issue, they affirmed the principle of peacefullysettling disputes in line with international law, including the 1982 UnitedNations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Host andguest stressed the need to strengthen trust as well as the importance of non-militarisationand self-restraint from activities that could complicate tensions in the EastSea.

Theyreaffirmed support for the full and effective implementation of the Declarationon the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and the acceleration ofnegotiations to reach an effective and practical Code of Conduct in the EastSea (COC) as a roadmap.

Followingthe talks, they issued a joint declaration on the establishment of the Vietnam-Bruneicomprehensive partnership and witnessed the signing of a government-level MoUon the use of a hotline to deal with illegal, unreported and unregulatedfishing. –VNA