President Truong Tan Sang's visit to China reaffirms Vietnam's foreign policy

Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang' s newly-concluded visit to China is of crucial importance in reaffirming the Vietnam's foreign policy of independence, self- reliance, multilateralism and diversification of relations, said Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh. State-run Vietnam News Agency reported on Sunday, quoting remarks by Pham Binh Minh to tell the press in an interview on the outcomes of the president's visit to China on June 21-19. The visit demonstrates Vietnam's policy of enhancing friendly and equal relationship with its neighboring and regional countries as well as major partners worldwide for mutual benefits while asserting the country's desire to contribute to peace, stability and development in the region, the foreign minister said. This is the first-ever visit made by Truong Tan Sang as head of the state and the first state-level visit by a high-ranking Vietnamese leader to China since its change of leadership. According to Pham Binh Minh, the visit aims to affirm the Vietnam's resolve to reinforce and develop the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership with China, enhance political trust and maintain regular exchanges between the two countries' high-ranking leaders. The foreign minister described the visit as an opportunity for the two sides to reach a common perception on development orientations for their relationship and discuss concrete measures to develop the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership intensively, effectively and practically. The host and the guest exchanged their views on issues remained in the relationship in a straightforward manner, including sea- related issues. During the visit, the two sides reached consensus on the significance of consolidating and deepening the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. The two sides looked back on the development process of the relationship and agreed that the Vietnam-China friendship is a valuable common asset of the two peoples. They issued a joint statement and signed ten cooperative documents in various areas, the foreign minister said, adding that many of them play the role of directing the two countries' future relations and put forth concrete cooperative development steps. The two sides put on the table specific measures to strengthen economic and trade cooperation for mutual benefits, the diplomat said, noting that they concurred to accelerate the implementation of major investment projects, contributing to raising China's investment in Vietnam. They were also unanimous on an array of measures to promote people-to-people exchange, especially among young people, to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the two countries' peoples. According to the foreign minister, the visit is a milestone marking a new development in the relations between the two countries, giving a direction to the future of the friendly and open cooperation between the two countries.