Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R) and visiting Timor Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta during their meeting in Hanoi on August 2.

Timor Leste seeks Vietnam’s assistance in key areas

Timor Leste expects to get Vietnamese assistance in areas where Vietnam has strengths, such as agriculture, food security, infrastructure development, education - training, human resource development, health care, and poverty reduction.

President José Ramos-Horta of Timor Leste made the proposal during his meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi on August 2.

He also proposed that Vietnam increase its investments into Timor Leste, while affirming that the government of Timor-Leste is committed to creating favorable conditions for Vietnamese businesses to operate efficiently in the country.

The President singled out Vietnam as a success story in healing the wound of war and spurring economic development. He thanked Vietnam for supporting Timor Leste in national construction, as well as in its ongoing bid to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), cited VOV.

Chinh for his part welcomed José Ramos-Horta’s ongoing visit that marks the journey of more than 20 years of diplomacy between Vietnam and Timor Leste, contributing to strengthening political trust and creating new momentum for bilateral relations in the coming time.

He congratulated Timor Leste on the achievements it has recorded in national development over the years as well as its ongoing preparations to join ASEAN. He expressed his belief that Timor-Leste would soon realize its national strategic development plan for 2011-2030 and integrate further into the world.

Chinh proposed that the two sides soon extend or sign a new Memorandum of Understanding on rice trading, helping to ensure national food security. He encouraged Timor-Leste to increase the import of Vietnamese goods suitable to its needs and tastes such as textiles, footwear, beverages, dairy products, processed foods, and agricultural and aquatic products.

The PM expected that Timor-Leste would soon completely resolve business difficulties and create more favorable conditions for Vietnamese businesses to expand operations, especially in the fields of telecommunications, digital transformation and oil and gas exploration and exploitation.

Both host and guest agreed to ramp up cooperation in other important fields, such as security, defense, information and communication, education and training; effectively take advantage of growing trends such as green economy, clean energy, and innovation; and promote people-to-people exchanges through tourism development and cultural exchanges.

Discussing regional and international issues of mutual concern, the two sides agreed to continue to coordinate and support each other at multilateral organizations.

Chinh voiced Vietnam’s support for Timor-Leste to soon become a full member of ASEAN.

José Ramos-Horta affirmed that Timor-Leste is ready to support Vietnam’s candidacy for all multilateral, regional and international mechanisms and organizations.

The two sides pledged to further back ASEAN’s principled stance on the East Sea, as well as efforts to maintain peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the regional waters.

They stressed the need to resolve maritime disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); seriously and fully implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC); and facilitate negotiations on the Code of Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (COC), contributing to maintaining peace, stability and development in the region.

José Ramos-Horta respectfully invited Chinh to visit Timor Leste, and the invitation was accepted with pleasure.

India highly values defense cooperation with Vietnam

Secretary (East) at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs Jaideep Mazumdar has affirmed that the defense cooperation with Vietnam is a very important pillar.

Addressing an August 1 special briefing on Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s India visit, Mazumdar said defense industry cooperation has emerged as a very significant area, and that discussions included defense technology transfer.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi. (Photo: VNA)

PM Chinh paid a state visit to India from July 30 - August 1 at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, according to VNA.

Speaking at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi, the Vietnamese leader spoke highly of India’s role towards peace, stability and prosperity in the region, noting security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region needs international solidarity to be tackled.

Vietnam attaches importance to comprehensive strategic partnership with Japan

Vietnam attaches great importance to its comprehensive strategic partnership with Japan, and wants to work closely with its partner to further strengthen bilateral relations, said Le Hoai Trung, head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations.

Receiving Kisaburo Tokai, head of the Policy Research Council of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, in Hanoi on August 2, Trung highly appreciated the Government and people of Japan having supported Vietnam in the process of renewal and socio-economic development over the years.

He proposed that the two sides continue to enhance mutual understanding and political trust through the exchange of high-level visits at different levels and through various channels, including between the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan.

He stressed the need for the two sides to effectively realize the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership framework, and requested that Japan support Vietnam in industrialization and modernization, promote economic, trade, investment, and national defense-security cooperation, and continue to create favorable conditions for Vietnamese nationals to live, study and work in the country, VOV reported.

Le Hoai Trung, head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations (R) and Kisaburo Tokai, head of the Policy Research Council of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, during their meeting in Hanoi on August 2. (Photo: VNA)

Tokai for his part extended his condolences over the recent passing of Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, which he said was a great loss to the Party, State and people of Vietnam.

He spoke highly of Vietnam’s rapid and outstanding development in recent times, and emphasized that Japan considers Vietnam an important partner in the region.

Japan is ready to support Vietnam in achieving its goal of becoming a high-income developed country by 2045, he assured his host.

He affirmed that Japan stays ready to strengthen cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, science - technology, innovation, human resource training, digital transformation, green transformation, and semiconductors, as well as to grant new generation ODA to Vietnam to meet the needs of sustainable development.

Signing of Vietnam-China land border treaty proves effective: conference

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in coordination with relevant ministries, organized a conference in Hanoi on August 2 to review 25 years since the signing of the Vietnam-China border treaty and 15 years since the signing of three legal documents on the land border between the two countries.

The three legal documents are the protocol on border demarcation and marker planting, the agreement on border management regulations, and the other on border gates and regulations on the management of border gates.

In his opening remarks, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son affirmed that the signing of these four documents was of great historical significance, opening up a new chapter in the Vietnam-China relationship. The signing also marked a major milestone in the history of building the shared borderline, thus contributing to creating and maintaining a peaceful and stable environment in the region and the world.

Additionally, the completion of border demarcation and marker planting has also promoted socio-economic development, especially in border provinces of both countries, Son said.

He added that finishing the settlement of the land border issue between Vietnam and China was a significant milestone in the bilateral relationship, which has experienced many ups and downs. It is also an achievement built on political determination, wisdom, and tireless efforts of generations of Vietnamese and Chinese people, particularly in the new era under the leadership of the two communist parties, VNA reported.

At the conference to review 25 years since the signing of the Vietnam-China border treaty and 15 years since the signing of three legal documents on the land border between Vietnam and China. (Photo: VNA)

This historical achievement has laid a legal and political foundation for the two countries to maintain a peaceful and stable environment for economic development and ensure security and defense, fulfilling the aspirations of their people, he stated.

Since the three legal documents on the Vietnam-China land border took effect and the two countries officially began managing the land border in accordance with these documents, the overall situation has been stable. The borderline and markers have been maintained, and public order and safety in the border areas have been ensured. Both sides have paid attention to opening and upgrading border gates, connecting transport infrastructure, and boosting friendship exchanges.

The Vietnam-China Land Border Joint Committee and relevant forces have closely collaborated in border management and protection, promptly detected and effectively addressed any emerging border issues, the minister added.

The two sides have to date demarcated the entire 1,449.566km-long border, planted 1,971 markers, including one at the Vietnam - China - Laos border junction, and 1,548 main and 442 auxiliary markers.

The conference was an opportunity for ministries, sectors, and localities to evaluate achievements. It also revealed shortcomings in border management and protection. The aim was to draw lessons, find solutions and contribute to maintaining a borderline of peace, friendship, and sustainable development for the two countries' people.

Vietnamese manufacturing sector reaches record 13-year high

The Vietnamese manufacturing sector’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) reached 54.7 in July, the highest since November 2018, according to the S&P Global survey released on August 1.

The index, which is equivalent to the June rate, signals a further marked strengthening of business conditions in the local manufacturing sector, said S&P Global, adding marked improvements were seen across the consumer, intermediate and investment goods categories.

New orders increased for the fourth month running in July on the back of stronger market demand and an increase in customer numbers. New export orders also rose, albeit at a much softer pace than total new business, cited VGP.

Photo: VGP

With new orders rising sharply, manufacturers ramped up production in July. Moreover, the rate of expansion in output quickened from that seen in June and was the second-fastest on record, just behind that seen in the opening month of data collection in March 2011.

Andrew Harker, Economics Director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: “The fact that the Vietnamese manufacturing sector was able to sustain the strong expansion seen in June through into July adds to optimism that we are at the start of a good spell of growth that will help drive the wider economy forward.

"The main issue for firms at present is keeping up with demand. While production was ramped up, firms were still forced to dip into warehouse stocks to help meet new order requirements, resulting in one of the sharpest depletions of inventories on record. Manufacturers will need to expand workforce numbers more quickly and continue to secure additional materials should current trends in new orders be sustained in the months ahead."

The results of the survey are in tandem with statistics recently released by the General Statistics Office of Viet Nam. Accordingly, the country's index of industrial production (IIP) obtained its positive growth in July at 0.7 percent over June and 11.2 percent compared to the same period last year.

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