(VOVWORLD) - Vietnam hopes to further deepen its close and trustful ties with Austria in all fields, said Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính during a phone conversation with Chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz on Thursday.
 Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh during a phone conversation with Chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz (Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac)
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The Austrian Chancellor said that Viet Nam is a trustworthy and important partner of Austria in Southeast Asia, and underlined the great potential for the development of the Vietnam-Austria partnership.
The two leaders hoped to collaborate to effectively exploit the opportunities brought by the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), and focus on the fields of health, environment, hunger eradication, and poverty reduction.
Mr. Chinh asked Austria to send Vietnam its surplus vaccines and transfer technologies needed to produce COVID-19 vaccine and treatment drugs. He said he hopes Austria will urge the COVAX Facility to speed up the allocation of vaccines to Vietnam.
The two leaders discussed the East Sea (known internationally as the South China Sea), agreeing that maintaining peace, security, and maritime and aviation freedom in the East Sea is in the common interest of the international community. They affirmed their support for settling disputes through peaceful methods in line with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
PM Chinh invited Chancellor Kurz to visit Vietnam next year on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations.