President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh reaffirmed their commitment to enhance the strategic partnership between the Philippines and Vietnam.

In a bilateral meeting on Tuesday, Marcos said the official engagements and discussions between the Philippines and Vietnam two years ago are now bearing fruit.

“We have made a good deal of progress since our very first discussion and some of the engagements between our two countries. And I am very happy that we will be able to pursue that,” Marcos said.

“And it gives us also the opportunity to explore new areas of cooperation and of partnership. So, thank you,” the President told the Vietnamese Prime Minister during the bilateral meeting of the two leaders.

Before concluding his remarks, Marcos expressed his condolences for the loss of lives caused by typhoon Yagi in Vietnam and for the demise on July 19 of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

For his part, Chinh expressed his gratitude to Marcos for extending his condolences to typhoon victims, the people of Viet Nam and to the family of the late general secretary.

The prime minister also reaffirmed Vietnam’s unwavering commitment to the Philippines.

“I want to reaffirm that we always support to the strategic partnership with the Philippines. I’m glad to note that the discussions that we began two years ago have been implemented effectively,” the Prime Minister said.

The Philippines and Vietnam signed various agreements including rice trade cooperation, incident prevention in the South China Sea, agriculture and cultural cooperation. Presidential News Desk