General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam (CPV) Nguyễn Phú Trọng and President, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Xi Jinping held official talks on Monday in China's capital city Beijing.

The Chinese Party leader highlighted the importance of Trọng's visit in bilateral ties, underlining that is the first foreign leader to be received in China immediately following the conclusion of the 20th National Congress of the CPC, and this is also the first official overseas trip by Trọng after the 13th National Congress of the CPV in 2021.

In a sincere and frank atmosphere, the two leaders discussed the situation of each Party and country as well as bilateral relations.

General Secretary Trọng once again congratulated the success of the 20th National Congress of the CPC and congratulated Comrade Xi Jinping on being trusted by the congress to continue to be elected as its General Secretary, and established as the "leadership nucleus" of the CPC.

He viewed the 20th National Congress as an important one with long-term significance for China's development, opening a new journey to build a modern Socialist State by 2035, towards the direction of achieving the Two Centenaries goals.

The Vietnamese Party leader affirmed that Việt Nam and China are two neighboring countries with "shared mountains and rivers," and both are Socialist countries led by the Communist Party.

Việt Nam is deeply grateful for the great and valuable assistance of the Chinese Party, State and people to the cause of national liberation of Việt Nam before as well as to the efforts in building socialism today, he said, adding that Việt Nam always attaches great importance to and gives top priority to developing a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership with China.

Regarding foreign policy, Việt Nam adheres to the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, friendship, cooperation and development, diversification and multilateral relations; harnesses the strength of great national unity with the strength of the times, proactively and actively integrates into the world; and that the country is committed to being a friend, a reliable partner and an active and responsible member in the international community.

Chinese Party leader, President Xi Jinping warmly congratulated Việt Nam on its achievements in recent years, especially in implementing the Resolution of the 13th National Congress of the CPV; highly appreciated that the congress has set out development goals and guidelines in various fields for the periods to 2025, 2030, and 2045, the 100th anniversary of the country's founding.

Xi expressed the belief that under the leadership of the CPV led by General Secretary Trọng, the Vietnamese people will successfully accomplish the goals and tasks set out by the Congress, to soon turn Việt Nam into a "basically a modern industrialised country," successfully realise the aim of "prosperous people, strong country, and a fair, democratic, and civilised society."

The Chinese leader stressed China attaches a great level of importance to relations with Việt Nam, and said he stands ready to enhance the friendship and cooperation between the two countries with the motto of "friendly neighbourliness, comprehensive cooperation, long-term stability and future-oriented thinking" and lifting bilateral ties to new heights.

The two general secretaries expressed their delight at the healthy development trend of the relations between the two Parties and countries.

In the challenging times caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the two sides continued to maintain regular high-level meetings and exchanges. Since the beginning of 2020, the two leaders have had four phone calls and exchanged letters and telegrams multiple times on the occasion of important political events of each side.

Cooperation between departments and branches of the Party, Government, National Assembly (Chinese National People's Congress), Fatherland Front (Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference), defence and public security has been effectively and substantively strengthened.

Trade and investment continue to be the highlight in bilateral cooperation, with Việt Nam being China's sixth largest partner in the world and the largest partner in ASEAN (Việt Nam-China's trade volume accounting for one-fourth of the volume between China and ASEAN).

Some bottlenecks in cooperation projects have been resolved, including the Cát Linh-Hà Đông metro in Hà Nội which has been put into commercial operation.

The two sides agreed that in the current context of crises and instability in many parts of the world, the stable development and achievements of Việt Nam and China are of great significance to the two countries and peoples.

The two leaders had in-depth discussions on major orientations to enhance trust, strengthen friendship, improve the effectiveness of substantive cooperation in all fields, maintain peace and stability at sea, and promote bilateral relations in a healthy, stable, and sustainable manner in the future.

The two sides agreed on further high-level exchanges, especially at the Party level, to seek better mutual understanding and address the emerging issues in bilateral relations.

In discussions on trade, Vietnamese Party leader Trọng emphasised that Việt Nam attaches special importance to the Chinese market, wishes to increase exports to China of products in which Việt Nam has strengths, and wants China to continue creating favorable conditions for and speeding up the opening of its market for Việt Nam's agricultural, forestry and fishery products, at the same time maintaining a stable supply chain and facilitating customs clearance between the two countries.

He also sought China's facilitation on procedures and raising the limit of Vietnamese goods transiting China to a third country by rail, and favorable conditions for cooperation in air, road and rail transport.

Việt Nam welcomes and is willing to create favorable conditions for China's large, high-tech enterprises to expand investment in the country, Trọng remarked.

Chinese leader Xi affirmed that China will make efforts to ensure bilateral trade relations grow in a more balanced direction, and facilitate the imports of Việt Nam's agricultural, forestry and fishery products to the Chinese market.

The two sides have made, and will make further efforts to resolve outstanding issues in the bilateral relationship, strengthen cooperation in production capacity, and actively promote the connectivity between the "Two Corridors, One Belt" and the "Belt and Road" initiatives on the basis of suitability with each other's demands, needs, and sustainable development strategies.

The two also agreed to expand cooperation in the fields of agriculture, environment, science and technology, and health.

The Chinese side is committed to providing Việt Nam with no less than 1,000 government scholarships, and training no less than 1,000 Chinese teachers for Việt Nam.

The two leaders had in-depth exchanges on many international and regional issues of mutual concern.

The two General Secretaries suggested that each side continue to create favourable travel conditions for the people of the two countries, soon restore commercial flights and cooperation in tourism and trade; continue to facilitate exchanges and cooperation between each country's localities, especially border localities.

Regarding border and territory issues, the two sides agreed to strengthen the effective management of the borderline according to the documents and agreements signed between the two sides, promote the early operation of tourism cooperation pilot in the Bản Giốc (Việt Nam) – Detian (China) Waterfall.

Regarding the issue of the sea, the two General Secretary concurred that this is an "existing unresolved problem" in bilateral relations and that the maintenance of peace and stability at sea is very important for the development of both Parties and countries.

The Vietnamese leader suggested the two sides adhere to high-level common perceptions, respect each other's legal and legitimate interests, and settle disputes and disagreements by peaceful means in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), promote maritime negotiation mechanisms, expedite delimitation and discussion on development cooperation, fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), striving to build a substantive, effective Code of Conduct (COC) in accordance with international laws, including UNCLOS 1982.

On behalf of the Party and State of Việt Nam, General Secretary Trọng cordially invites General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping to visit Việt Nam soon, which he gladly accepted.

Prior to the talks, a grand welcome ceremony at the highest level for a head of state was held for the Vietnamese Party leader.

The ceremony was chaired by Party leader Xi Jinping, and attended by many Chinese high-ranking officials, including Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, and Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao.

As the cars of the Vietnamese Party leader and the Vietnamese delegation arrived at the site, 21-gun salute was fired. — VNS