Jakarta (VNA) - Vietnam and Indonesiahave always been trustworthy and loyal friends amid various politicalfluctuations in the region and the world during their 65 years of diplomaticrelations, Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia Pham Vinh Quang told a meetingwith local and international media agencies in Jakarta on December 22.

Reviewing the major milestones in diplomatic relationsover the last 65 years, he noted the two sides established a strategiccooperative partnership in 2013 in all areas of politics, diplomacy, security,defence, economy, tourism, culture, and people-to-people exchange.

He affirmed that Vietnam and Indonesia share a firmcooperative foundation in politics and diplomacy, which was originally formedand developed by President Ho Chi Minh and President Sukarno.

The similarities in culture and historyhave helped them become closer, he said, adding that they share many commonviewpoints at regional and international forums.

In 2020, the two countries strengthened their cooperationas non-permanent members of the UN Security Council and when Vietnam served as ASEAN Chair, he said.

He noted that two-way trade rose 60 percent over thepast five years, from 5.6 billion USD in 2014 to 9.1 billion USD in 2019.Despite the impact of COVID-19, bilateral tourism and cultural cooperation andpeople-to-people exchanges all increased.

In 2019, Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air launched directflights linking Hanoi and HCM City with Bali.

The number of Indonesian tourists to Vietnam increased21.3 percent this year to 108,000, while more than 80,000 Vietnamese visited Indonesia.

In order to deal with COVID-19, Vietnam and Indonesia supportedeach other in their response. The Government, National Assembly, and businessesof Vietnam presented assistance to Indonesia, the ambassador said.

In multilateral frameworks, Vietnam, as ASEAN Chair in2020, actively coordinated with Indonesia in holding the  Special ASEAN Summit and Special ASEANPlus Three Summit, as well as special meetings at the ministerial level and relatedmeetings seeking solutions to respond to the pandemic.

At the UN Security Council, he went on, the two sides workedtogether to speed up the approval of resolutions relating to cooperation in fighting the pandemic.

Throughout 2020, the Vietnamese Embassy in Jakarta hasheld a number of activities to mark the 65th anniversary of bilateraldiplomatic relations, including a logo contest, an interactive dialogue on Indonesia’snational radio station RRI, and a film screening on national TV channel TVRI,along with an online photo exhibition in Yogyakarta and Bali, the re-publishingof a book on the historic visit by President Ho Chi Minh to Indonesia in 1959,and a videoconference on tourism and investment opportunities in Vietnam andIndonesia amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the meeting, Ambassador Quang answered a number ofquestions from reporters about cooperation between the two countries infighting COVID-19, Vietnam’s experience in controlling the pandemic, plans todevelop and distribute an anti-COVID-19 vaccine, the East Sea issue, andmeasures to strengthen cooperation and mutual understanding between the twocountries./.