Viet Nam, Thailand to Elevate Ties to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his Thai counterpart Paetongtarn Shinawatra agreed to soon upgrade Viet Nam-Thailand relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh

The agreement was reached during their phone conversation held on Thursday.

The two leaders noted with pleasure that Viet Nam-Thailand Strategic Partnership has grown robustly and effectively across all sectors.

Pham affirmed Viet Nam's consistent foreign policy of attaching importance to and wishing to develop Viet Nam-Thailand relations in a more trustworthy and substantive manner.

The Vietnamese leader took the occasion to extend his sympathies to the Government and people of Thailand over the consequences of recent serious floods in Northern Thailand.

Pham hailed Thailand as Viet Nam's biggest trade partner and second largest foreign investor in ASEAN, affirming that Viet Nam will continue to create favorable conditions for Thai enterprises to do business in the country.

He voiced his support for Thailand's "Six Countries, One Destination" initiative to effectively unlock the tourism potential among ASEAN countries.

Pham suggested the two sides will boost transportation connections in the region, strengthen cooperation in culture, education-training, people-to-people exchanges, facilitate and promote friendship between their peoples.

He proposed Viet Nam and Thailand continue to work closely together to reinforce solidarity and enhance the central role of ASEAN, and support Laos to successfully fulfill the role of ASEAN Chairmanship 2024.

The Vietnamese leader underlined the need to sustainably develop the Mekong sub-region and coordinate to maintain ASEAN's common stance on the East Sea issue, contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region.

Paetongtarn Shinawatra, for her part, promised to work with the Vietnamese Prime Minister to step up effective and comprehensive cooperation between the two nations, for the sake of their peoples and for peace and stability in the region.

She consented with Prime Minister Pham on the need to foster close coordination, remove bottlenecks, and strive to soon bring two-way trade turnover to US$25 billion as well as strengthen connectivity between the two economies via effective implementation of the "Three Connections" Strategy.

Viet Nam and Thailand are two economies that are closely linked and complement each other, she noted, expressing her hope that the two countries will utilize their advantages to become the main economic growth engine in the region.

Source: VGP