Marcos Jr. arrived here the previous day on his first trip to this Indochinese country after taking office on June 30, 2022, and his short stay will help strengthen political trust and promote relations between the two countries develop in different areas.
Political cooperation has improved through various visits, meetings and high-level contacts, while economic relations have also developed positively, said Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman Pham Thu Hang.
The two countries continue to maintain close cooperation in regional and international forums such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the United Nations and the Asia-Pacific Forum for Economic Cooperation, the spokesman said.
Thu Hang also emphasized both sides' attention to promoting relations in other important areas such as security and defense, education and training, culture, labor issues and tourism.
On the other hand, Vietnamese Ambassador to the Philippines Lai Thai Binh appreciated that the president's trip will help comprehensively promote strategic cooperation between the two countries, bring practical benefits to the people and promote peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.
The visit, the diplomat stressed in statements to the VNA news agency, is of great importance for strengthening ASEAN solidarity and the central role of the bloc, especially given the complex and unpredictable political and security fluctuations that continue in the region and beyond take place.
The Philippines and Vietnam share many similarities in terms of geographical location, population size and level of development, as well as history, culture and people, which provide a favorable basis for strengthening cooperation, particularly in the implementation of goals related to socio-economic progress, said he said.
Regarding the latter, the ambassador emphasized the intention to reach $10 billion in bilateral trade exchanges in the near future.
lam/mpm