Vietnam, Brunei hold joint commission first meeting

Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh said the two sides discussed ways to strengthen bilateral ties in various aspects and upgrade bilateral cooperation to a new height.

The two officials touched upon bilateral cooperation at regional and global forums and within the ASEAN framework as well as the East Sea issue.

Both sides pledged to lift two-way trade to US$500 million by 2025.

They expressed their satisfaction with the growing Vietnam-Brunei friendship and comprehensive cooperation since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic ties 25 years ago (February 29) and hailed the outcomes of President Tran Dai Quang’s visit to Brunei last August.

They concurred to continue facilitating all-level visits and people-to-people exchange to deepen mutual understanding and trust. Lim told Minh that the Sultan of Brunei will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit set to take place in the central city of Danang this year.

The two sides proposed measures to enhance partnership across the fields of economy-trade-investment, national defence-security, oil and gas, agro-fisheries, culture-tourism, education-training, and labour. They also agreed upon promoting experience sharing through seminars, investment, trade links as well as extend joint work to survey, exploit, process and distribute oil and gas.

The two ministers discussed the organisation of seminars, exchange of delegations, culture and arts and cross-cultural exchange to introduce respective traditional culture and people on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties.

They vowed to continue offering mutual support at regional and global forums, especially in ASEAN and the United Nations, maintaining ASEAN’s central role in the regional security architecture as well as boosting ASEAN ties with dialogue countries, including ASEAN-China ties.

They underlined the importance of ensuring peace, stability, security, and safety of navigation in the East Sea, respecting international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), fully abiding by the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea, and soon finalizing the Code of Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (COC).

Lim affirmed that his nation is ready to support Vietnam’s successful organisation of the APEC Summit 2017. The second meeting of this kind is slated for 2019 in Brunei.