Astana (VNA) - Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, who accompanied Party General Secretary To Lam in a state visit to Kazakhstan, had a meeting with his Kazakh counterpart Murat Nurtleu in Astana on May 7 to discuss measures to promote cooperation between the two countries.

During their discussions, Nurtleu emphasised the historic significance of General Secretary Lam’s visit, describing it as a milestone that sets a clear framework for elevating the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Kazakhstan to new heights.

He praised the outcomes of the Vietnamese Party chief’s productive talks and meetings held over the past two days between General Secretary To Lam and Kazakhstan’s leaders. Nurtleu expressed his belief that the upgrade of bilateral ties to a strategic partnership will pave the way for broader and deeper collaboration across all key areas.

For his part, Son thanked Nurtleu and Kazakh peers for their coordination and thoughtful preparation for the Vietnamese leader’s first visit to the Central Asian country.

He noted that the visit marked a new stage of enhanced political trust and reflected the shared determination of both sides to advance bilateral relations. A particularly symbolic moment was President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev personally greeting General Secretary Lam and his spouse at the foot of aircraft stairs, a gesture highlighting both the personal ties between leaders and Kazakhstan’s strong regard for Vietnam and the bilateral relations.

The two sides agreed on the importance of developing a detailed action plan and roadmap to implement the newly established strategic partnership and freshly-signed agreements effectively. They committed to ensuring the timely and substantive execution of high-level agreements, encouraging government agencies, ministries, and local authorities to exchange working delegations and jointly explore cooperation projects. These efforts will include negotiating and signing new agreements to establish a robust legal framework for closer collaboration in priority sectors such as trade and investment, transportation and logistics, agriculture, energy, mining, defence and security, cultural and educational exchange, tourism, labour cooperation, and inter-regional connectivity.

They also supported the strengthening of existing cooperation mechanisms and proposed the creation of new consultation frameworks in areas of mutual interest and potential, based on prior high-level agreements.

Commending the recent progress in cooperation between the two Foreign Ministries, the two sides agreed to maintain the Deputy Minister-level Political Consultation mechanism and increasing regular exchanges between their respective ministries. They also agreed to continue meeting on the sidelines of international conferences and multilateral forums to coordinate positions, review bilateral cooperation, and help drive the implementation of joint programmes and agreements.

Both sides praised their growing coordination and mutual support at international organisations and multilateral forums. They agreed to continue sharing information, aligning positions on regional and global issues, and supporting each other’s initiatives and candidacies in the United Nations and other international bodies.

ꦏ On this occasion, Deputy PM Bui Thanh Son extended an invitation to Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu to visit Vietnam at a convenient time, and the later accepted the invitation with pleasure./.