Vietnam and Brazil released a joint statement and signed four cooperative agreements during Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s visit to the South American country, with an aim to lift the comprehensive partnership to new heights.

The joint statement was released on Monday, highlighting the content of a meeting held earlier between Brazilian President Lula da Silva and PM Chinh, who arrived last Saturday for a four-day official visit at the invitation of the former.

At the talks, the host highly valued Chinh’s visit as it came in the context of the two countries celebrating 16 years of comprehensive partnership and looking forward to the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations next year. 

The Brazilian leader believed that the visit would help bring traditional friendship and good cooperation between the two countries to a new level in the future, contributing positively to peace, stability, and development in the two regions and in the world.

President Lula, his deputy Geraldo Alckmin, and Brazilian ministers attending the talks expressed their admiration for the country and people of Vietnam in their past struggle for national independence and the work of building the nation today.

They emphasized that the Brazilian people are always inspired by the courage and strong will of the Vietnamese people.

PM Chinh told his host that Vietnam attaches great importance to the ties with Brazil, a leading and important partner in Latin America.

The two leaders expressed pleasure at the fruitful development of the bilateral economic and trade relations in recent years, with Vietnam being the number-one trading partner of Brazil in Southeast Asia while Brazil remains the largest commercial partner of Vietnam in South America. 

The two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in trade to raise its value from nearly US$6.8 billion last year to $10 billion by 2025 and $15 billion by 2030.

PM Chinh proposed that Brazil facilitate the import of Vietnamese products to maintain a trade balance between the two countries.

The Vietnamese government leader recommended that Brazil accelerate the process of recognizing Vietnam’s market economy status and promote the signing of a bilateral double taxation avoidance accord.

The two sides agreed to continue promoting the launch of negotiations on the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR for its Spanish initials, including Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay).

The proposed deal is expected to strengthen business, trade, and investment cooperation between the two sides, while spurring inter-regional economic links.

“Vietnam, with a population of 100 million people, is among the 40 largest economies in the world and the 20 leading economies in terms of trade and investment, continuing to grow strongly and consistently and implementing the foreign policy of independence, resilience, peace, friendship, cooperation and development, diversification, multilateralization, and proactive and positive international integration,” PM Chinh told his host. 

In the joint statement following the talks, the two sides also agreed to strengthen cooperation in defense and security, and coordinate multilateral mechanisms and activities in which both sides participate.

Vietnam and Brazil will promote cooperation in transnational crime prevention, sports, football, innovation, digital transformation, green development, renewable energy, climate change response, biofuels, conservation of tropical forest ecosystems and biodiversity, and protection of the Mekong - Amazon River ecosystem, the statement said.

The two nations reaffirmed their respect for international law, especially the United Nations Charter, as well as their support for resolving disputes in international relations through peaceful means on the basis of international laws, including compliance with and good-faith implementation of the provisions of the international law on seas and oceans, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS). 

Brazil welcomed the UNCLOS Friends Group Initiative, co-founded by Vietnam and a number of other key countries, according to the statement.

PM Chinh and President Lula later witnessed the signing of four deals, including an intergovernmental educational cooperation agreement, a memorandum of understanding on defense ties, an action plan for agricultural cooperation in the 2024-26 period, and a plan on activities in foreign affairs between the two countries for 2024-25. 

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