Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son. (Photo: VNA)

The consensus was reached during phone talks between Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Friday afternoon. Vietnam and India will work to strengthen collaboration in national defense and security, and raise the two-way trade to 15 billion USD, they said.

Minister Son said that Vietnam backs India’s “Act East Policy”, he said, suggesting the two countries step up cooperation and support each other at multilateral forums. He welcomed India’s consistent stance on the East Sea and spoke highly of India's role at regional and international forums, particularly the within the framework of the ASEAN-India partnership and the UN.

Also on Friday, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son made a phone call to Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The Foreign Minister reiterated that maintaining and developing the traditional friendship and the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership with China is always one of the top priorities in Vietnam’s external policy. Foreign Minister Wang Yi affirmed that China attaches importance to promoting the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership with Vietnam. They agreed to promote exchanges at high level and other levels, and invited each other to make mutual visit at an appropriate time for direct discussion. They vowed to bring into full play the role of the two Foreign Ministries in coordinating and promoting cooperation across the fields in bilateral ties towards a healthy and substantial growth of economic-trade relations, and maintain discussions on international and regional issues of mutual concern.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates Nasser Bourita held phone talks on April 16 to discuss bilateral cooperation and coordination in multilateral forums.

During the talks, the two Ministers discussed measures to enhance cooperation, especially in the fields of trade, investment, banking, culture, tourism, and education-training. The ministers agreed to strengthen collaboration to further tap on the role of cooperative mechanisms co-chaired by the two countries’ foreign ministries such as joint committees, thereby deepening the relations between Vietnam and Morocco. The Moroccan Minister vowed to support Vietnam in setting up a partnership with the African Union, and said that Morocco stands ready to act as a gateway for Vietnam to access and develop its market with African and Arabian nations. Vietnam is also viewed as a gateway for Morocco to expand cooperation with ASEAN and Asia.