(VOVworld) -  The first session of the Vietnam-Indonesia bilateral cooperation committee opened in Hanoi on Wednesday. It is part of the implementation of the bilateral agreements between the two countries’ governments under the Vietnam-Indonesia Program of Action between 2012 and 2015. Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and his Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa co-chaired the session. Both sides set out orientations to consolidate and lift bilateral ties to a new height and agree on the discussion of agreement on joint patrol in the border maritime areas and establishing a liaison channel between the two countries’ navies. Both ministers also stressed the need to enhance cooperation in trade, investment, fishing, agriculture, food security and justice. Minister Pham Binh Minh said at the meeting:“We have discussed in depth bilateral cooperation in regional and international forums, especially cooperation within ASEAN as well as ASEAN central role in settling common issues, including East Sea issues. We emphasized peace, security, safe marine routes in the East Sea, respect of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and full implementation of the DOC towards a COC.”

Foreign Minister Natalegawa said his country is ready to strengthen ties with Vietnam. Both ministers agreed to hold the next meeting of the Vietnam-Indonesia bilateral cooperation committee in Indonesia in 2014.