Vietnam and Sri Lanka yesterday reached a cooperative agreement on the agricultural field and vowed to boost bilateral trade to US$100 million in 2010 from US$40 million this year, State media reports.
At the meeting between visiting Sri Lanka Prime Minister Honourable Ratnasiri and Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung the two sides stressed the potential for bilateral cooperation and agreed to some concrete measures raising the effectiveness of cooperation in economics, trade, investment, agriculture, industry, culture, tourism, education and training, and Buddhism.
The two Prime Ministers agreed to increase high-level visits by top leaders as well as visits by ministries, branches, people and entrepreneurs of the two countries in order to raise mutual understanding and create favorable cooperation.
They will actively create conditions for enterprises to seek opportunities for cooperation and investment. The two leaders agreed to cooperate on terrorism issues.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung revealed the Vietnamese Government would consider re-opening its embassy in Colombo soon. He also required the inter-governmental committee of the two countries to hold a 2nd meeting promoting specific co-operative areas which have been designated.
At talks, the Sri Lankan leader expressed support for Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as its candidacy for a non-permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council for the 2008-2009 term.
In turn, Vietnam strongly backed Sri Lanka's bid to intensify relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the hope of becoming a dialogue partner to the group, and welcomed its admission to the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) as the 27th member.
The two Prime Ministers, after their conversation, witnessed the signing of a cooperative agreement on agriculture between the two Ministries of Agriculture.
Yesterday Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka also met with President Nguyen Minh Triet and called at the Vietnam Buddhist Institute (VBI) in Hanoi's outlying Soc Son district.
The Sri Lankan leader hailed the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS)'s education and training system and extended his best wishes to people, Buddhist monks, nuns and followers across the country, hoping for the establishment of ties between Buddhists in both countries.
The Most Venerable Thich Thanh Tu, permanent Vice Chairman of the VBS's Executive Council and Director of the VBI, said he hoped relations between the States, people and Buddhist followers of Vietnam and Sri Lanka would develop further.
On the evening of November 27, PM Dung hosted a banquet in honor of PM Wickramanayaka and his entourage.
This is the first visit by the head of Sri Lankan government and the first high-level visit between the two countries in the past thirty years. Sri Lanka is an agricultural nation competitive in tea, rubber, and coconut.
The two-way trade between Vietnam and Sri Lanka remained modest, reaching $30.3 million last year and $19.6 million in the first half of this year. Vietnam mainly exports precious stone, cloth, rubber, seafood, handicraft, fine arts, and wooden products, and imports cattle feed, footwear, garment and textile materials, plastic, and chemical substances.
(Local Sources)
Vietnamese
