Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Sri Lankancounterpart Ranil Wickremesinghe reiterated determination to elevate the twocountries’ relations to a new height for mutual benefits during their talks inHanoi on April 17.

Thetwo PMs expressed their satisfaction over the growing traditional friendshipand multi-faceted cooperation between Vietnam and Sri Lanka over the past 47years since they established diplomatic ties in July 1970.

They agreed to boost affiliation in politics andexternal affairs via increasing high-level delegation exchanges, and promoting therelations between the Party, State, Government, and parliaments andpeople-to-people exchanges.

The leaders concurred to implement effectively thecurrent bilateral cooperation mechanisms, including the organization of thefourth meeting of the joint committee and the third political consultation thisyear.

They pledged to step up collaboration insecurity-defence and share information and experience in legal execution,combating cross-border crime, addressing post-war consequences, and joining theUN peacekeeping activities.

The PMs also underlined the bilateral enormouscooperation potential in trade, economics, and investment.

To realizethe two-way trade target of 1 billion USD in the coming years, the two sidesvowed to urge relevant agencies to map out specific measures to deepenbilateral cooperation in the fields of their strength, such as oil and gas,infrastructure, information technology and communication, garment-textile, farmproduce processing and distribution, and seafood.

The PMs agreed to actively implement theagreement on investment encouragement and protection and sign new cooperation dealsto fit new circumstances.

Theywere committed to giving priorities to cooperation in other important fieldssuch as energy, tourism, education, human resources development, and culturalexchanges.

They stressed the importance of forging aviationconnectivity, which will help promote bilateral trade, tourism andpeople-to-people exchanges.

The host and guest vowed to closely worktogether at regional and international forums, while strengthening cooperationbetween the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the South AsianAssociation for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) for peace, stability, cooperationand development in Asia.

Both sides stressed the significance ofmaintaining peace and stability in the East Sea as well as navigation andaviation safety, and removing trade barriers and settling disputes anddifferences via peaceful means and in line with international law.

After the talks, the PMs witnessed the signingof two cooperation agreements, including the cooperation plan on agriculturaldevelopment in 2017-2019, and the cooperation agreement on education in2017-2021 and met with the press.

TheSri Lankan Prime Minister is paying an official visit to Vietnam from April16-18 at the invitation of PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc.-VNA