During the yesterday's talks with President Tran Dai Quang in Hanoi, Irish President Michael D. Higgins expressed his wish to foster cooperation with Vietnam, which he described as a country of increasingly important role in Asia-Pacific. President Quang hailed the first Vietnam visit by President Michael D. Higgins, which is concurrent with the 20th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties, saying that he believes the visit will generate a new momentum for bilateral friendship and cooperation. President Quang said he and his Irish counterpart shared the view that Vietnam and Ireland hold great potential for cooperation in areas of mutual interest, like trade-investment, education-training, green technology, agriculture, health care and sustainable development.
President Tran Dai Quang and his Irish counterpart Michael D.Higgins
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Sharing the hope for enhanced solidarity, friendship and mutual understanding between their citizens, Vietnam and Ireland consented to effectively implement their collaboration in child adoption, increase cultural and art exchanges and promote the bridging role played by the Vietnamese in Ireland, contributing to strengthening the bilateral affiliation in other realms. The Presidents reached consensus on the need to maintain peace and security, and boost cooperation and development in the world.
For his part, President Higgins said their talks touched upon a range of cooperation areas, both bilaterally and multilaterally. They were also unanimous in how to reach their shared objectives, bilaterally and multilaterally, in order to fulfill their obligations to the international community.
Higgins said he and his Vietnamese counterpart talked about migration as well as well as its global impacts, the affiliation in multilateral institutions like the UN Arms Trade Treaty, and their mutual support as candidacies to non-permanent seats of the UN Security Council.
The Irish President stressed that the two sides exchanged information about each country’s economic situation, and discussed ways to make Ireland a bridge for Vietnam to access the EU and Vietnam as a springboard for Ireland to enter the nearly-600-million ASEAN market.
He appreciated contributions of the Vietnamese in Ireland and the Irish community in the Southeast Asian nation. The leaders said they hope that the two countries’ young people will contribute to the world’s peace. Higgins used the occasion to invite President Tran Dai Quang and his spouse to soon pay a visit to Ireland.
Regarding the East Sea issue, The two leaders agreed to settle disputes at the sea by peaceful measures in line with international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Following the talks, host and guest witnessed the signing of cooperation agreements in the fields of development cooperation, education-training, wind power, information technology, post and telecommunications, and medical equipment.
