Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. expressed his hope that Vietnam will keep supporting his country in ensuring food security at a meeting on Tuesday with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Vientiane, Laos.

Both leaders are attending the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits and related summits.

The Philippine leader also expected the two nations to effectively implement the agreements signed early this year on cooperation in agriculture and rice trade.

At the meeting, both leaders expressed their pleasure at the strong development of the Vietnam-Philippines strategic relations in all fields, reaching a consensus on deeper partnership in a bid to build a better, stronger, and more sustainable ASEAN community.

Speaking of future plans for bilateral cooperation, PM Chinh hinted at promoting current partnership mechanisms, especially the Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation, and boosting cooperation on agriculture, economy, and commerce to align with both nations’ potential.

The Vietnamese leader also suggested opening wider doors to each other’s goods to achieve US$10 billion in two-way trade in 2025.

The premier urged both sides to enhance their partnership in new fields such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, Internet of Things, digital economy, green economy, energy transformation, and electric vehicle development.

Reflecting on his deep impressions from his visit to Vietnam in January, Philippine President Marcos affirmed that Vietnam is always one of the Philippines’ strategic partners.

He underlined that the two nations would strengthen their bilateral cooperation in the coming time and closely collaborate with each other to carry out a series of programs and activities to mark the 10th anniversary of their strategic partnership in 2025. 

President Marcos highly valued Vietnam’s Vingroup’s EV development projects in the Philippines and many hi-tech projects within the two countries.

Regarding marine cooperation, the two leaders agreed to strengthen their collaboration on sea-related issues and accelerate efforts to develop an effective and practical Code of Conduct for Parties in the East Vietnam Sea, in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

President Marcos underscored that his country would keep treating captured fishermen with humanity based on principles in compliance with international law and the spirit of friendship.

The two leaders also consented to keep supporting each other at regional and international forums, especially ASEAN and the United Nations.

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