Vietnam and the Dominican Republic have pledged to strengthen business and investment cooperation, with a focus on key sectors such as telecommunications, energy and oil, construction, agriculture, and tourism.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader Corona. Photos: Nhat Bac

This view was shared during a meeting between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, who is currently on a state visit to the Dominican Republic, and the host country's President Luis Abinader Corona on November 20.

Both two leaders expressed satisfaction with the positive development of their bilateral friendship and cooperation, particularly in the political, diplomatic, economic, trade, and development cooperation fields, as well as mutual support in multilateral forums.

They stressed the significance of preserving and promoting the value of the Ho Chi Minh Monument in Santo Domingo and the Professor Juan Bosch Monument, the first President of the Dominican Republic's democracy, in Hanoi, considering them as symbols of solidarity and friendship between the two nations.

Prime Minister Chinh and President Luis also agreed to enhance high-level and multi-level exchanges through all channels, including party, government, parliamentary, decentralized cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges, to strengthen political ties, deepen mutual understanding, and lay a solid foundation for expanding and improving bilateral cooperation. The leaders also called for improving the legal framework for bilateral cooperation, maximizing the effectiveness of the political consultation mechanism between the two foreign ministries, and holding the second round of political consultations soon.

Both sides pledged to expand and deepen bilateral cooperation in all fields, particularly in the areas of economy, trade, and investment, avoidance of double taxation, agriculture, science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, green transition, digital economy, telecommunications, renewable energy, security, and crime prevention, sustainable tourism development, culture, education, environmental protection, and climate change response. They agreed to expedite the convening of the first session of the Joint Committee on Economic, Trade, and Industrial Cooperation.

Prime Minister Chinh suggested that both sides expedite negotiations on a free trade agreement, an investment protection agreement, and agreements on cultural, educational, and training cooperation, as well as visa exemptions for ordinary passports.

The two leaders witness the signing of cooperation agreements.

For his part, President Luis Abinader Corona thanked the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture for its effective support of vaccines against African swine fever in the Dominican Republic. The leaders highlighted the need and potential for expanding business and investment cooperation, particularly in telecommunications, energy and oil, construction, agriculture, and tourism.

They noted the importance of enhancing trade and investment promotion activities, fostering business connections, and facilitating market access for each country's key export products while leveraging each country as a gateway to the Southeast Asia and Latin American-Caribbean regions.

The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to multilateralism and to strengthening cooperation and mutual support in international organizations and multilateral forums where both are members, such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Non-Aligned Movement, the South-South Cooperation framework, and the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC), for the benefit of their peoples and to contribute to peace, stability, cooperation, and development in their regions and globally.

Discussing regional and international issues of mutual concern, the two sides agreed to resolve international disputes and differences through peaceful means in accordance with international law, especially the United Nations Charter and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

At the conclusion of the talks, Prime Minister Chinh and President Luis held a joint press conference to announce the Vietnam-Dominican Republic Joint Statement, reaffirming the determination of their governments and outlining the agreed directions and measures to strengthen the solidarity, friendship, and cooperation between Vietnam and the Dominican Republic in the future.

The leaders also witnessed the signing of several bilateral cooperation documents, including a Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of a Joint Committee to promote trade and technical cooperation and a Memorandum of Understanding on training cooperation between Vietnam's Diplomatic Academy and the Dominican Republic's Diplomatic Academy (INESDYC).