Hanoi (VNA) - State Presid♑ent Luong Cuong held talks with Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayaka after hosting an officia💧l welcome ceremony for the latter at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi on May 5 morning.

President Dissanayaka is paying a state visit to Vietnam and attend the United Nations Day of Vesak from May 4-6 at the invitation of President Cuong. In an atmosphere of openness, sincerity, trust and mutual understanding, President Cuong warmly welcomed President Dissanayaka to visit Vietnam, assessing the visit as having important significance and taking place on the occasion of the two countries celebrating 55 years of diplomatic relations. He thanked President Dissanayaka for accepting the invitation to attend and deliver the opening speech at the United Nations Day of Vesak in Vietnam, as well as sending a congratulatory letter to Vietnamese leaders on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of national reunification. The Vietnamese President congratulated Sri Lanka on its important socio-economic achievements since the new President and Government began to lead the country, especially the recovery from the crisis, maintaining positive economic growth, and improving the national credit rating, expressing his confidence that Sri Lanka will overcome difficulties to successfully achieve development goals in the future. President Cuong thanked Sri Lanka for supporting Vietnam in the past struggle for national independence and for cooperating closely with Vietnam in the current process of national construction. Expressing his joy at visiting Vietnam, the first Southeast Asian country to visit after taking office, President Dissanayaka expressed his admiration for Vietnam's impressive development after 50 years of liberating the South and reunifying the country. Vietnam has risen to become one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with GDP ranking 32nd in the world, playing an important role and position in the region and the world, he said. President Dissanayaka said that the leaders and people of Sri Lanka always reserve warm sentiments for Vietnam and President Ho Chi Minh, and admire Vietnam's indomitable fighting spirit during the wars as well as in building the Fatherland, and wish to learn from Vietnam's development experience.

The two sides agreed that high political trust, warm friendship, sincere support between the two countries and the sharing of common visions and viewpoints are the foundation for developing the bilateral relations to new heights. In that spirit, the two sides agreed to continuously consolidate the traditional friendship and mutual understanding, promote more frequent high-level visits, and enhance cooperation between the two ruling parties, exchanges between people's organisations and friendship associations of the two countries. They agreed to improve the effectiveness of cooperation mechanisms, especially the Joint Committee for Economic, Trade, Scientific and Technical Cooperation to review and propose specific cooperation measures; amend, supplement and promote the signing of cooperation agreements in accordance with the new situation; and study the possibility of upgrading relations when conditions are sufficient and agreed by both sides.

They agreed to promote more substantive collaboration in the fields of defence, security, and justice; and encourage increased exchanges and interactions, expanded training and capacity building cooperation, and coordination in combating transnational crime and cybercrime, and law enforcement; while considering the signing of defence, se💮curity, and justice cooperation🌜 agreements.

Emphasising the significant potential for bilateral economic, trade, and investment cooperation, both sides stressed the need for breakthrough measures to effectively tap this potential; and agreed to promote the signing of economic, trade, and investment cooperation agreements, facil🧜itate market access ♊for each country’s competitive goods, diversify supply chains, and strive to achieve a two-way trade target of 1 billion USD, and further increase two-way investment.

They also agreed to further expand ties in key areas such as agriculture, food security, science and technology, education, culture, religion, healthcare, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges; enhance experience sharinꦬg in sea-based economy development, maritime transport and connectivity; and encourage airlines of both countries to consider opening direct flights.

The Sri Lankan President affirmed that he will create favourable conditions for Vietnamese businesses t🙈o invest in strategic sectors with high demand in his country, including infrastructure, telecommunications, education, healthcare, hi-tech agriculture, farm produce processing, food, retail, logistics, and tourism.

He also committed to continuing support for the Vietnamese community in Sri Lanka, including Vietnamese monks and n𝓡uns studying Buddhist 🔥teachings.

Amidst complex global and regional developments, the two leaders emphasised their commitments to maintaining close coordination and mutual support at international and regional organisations, particularly the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, South-South cooperation, and on issues of shared interest.

They reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, and freedom of navigation, highlighting the need to respect and adhere to international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

President Cuong welcomed Sri Lanka’s efforts to strengthen ties and foster more substantive cooperation with Southeast Asian countries and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

On this occasion, President Dissanayaka invited his Vietnamese counterpart to visit Sri Lanka in the coming time. The Vietnamese State leader happily accepted this invitation.

Following the talks, the two Presidents witnessed the signing of five cooperation agreements in the fields of d🦋iplomacy, trade, customs, agriculture, and machinery manufacturing./.