Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister of Thailand co-chaired the 4th Vietnam - Thailand Joint Cabinet Meeting

At the invitation of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand Paetongtarn Shinawatra paid an official visit to Vietnam and co-chaired the 4th Vietnam - Thailand Joint Cabinet Meeting from May 15-16.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra co-chaired the fourth meeting of the Vietnam-Thailand Joint Cabinet. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA.

On May 16th, following the official welcoming ceremony at the Government Headquarters, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra held talks; and the 4th Vietnam-Thailand Joint Cabinet Meeting.

At the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh warmly welcomed Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and the delegation of the Royal Thai Government on their official visit to Vietnam; assessing the visit as having special significance, as this was the first visit of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra to Vietnam since taking office, and also the first joint Cabinet meeting between the Prime Ministers of the two countries in nearly 10 years; emphasizing that Thailand is a close neighbor, an important partner, and a companion sharing values ​​and strategic interests.

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra expressed her pleasure at making an official visit to Vietnam; thanked Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the Vietnamese Government for the warm and cordial reception given to the delegation. She affirmed that Vietnam is one of Thailand's leading important partners in the region, emphasizing that the Joint Cabinet Meeting mechanism is a special mechanism that Thailand only has with its neighbors, including Vietnam; and expressed her desire to further develop the relationship between the two countries, making it deeper and more substantive.

In an atmosphere of friendship, sincerity, trust, and mutual understanding, the two sides exchanged views on the situation in each country and bilateral relations, expressing pleasure at the significant progress made in the Vietnam-Thailand Strategic Partnership in recent times.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the 4th Joint Cabinet Meeting of Vietnam and Thailand. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

With shared determination and consensus from the high-level leaders of both countries, the two sides officially announced the upgrading of Vietnam-Thailand relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, opening a new chapter in the history of bilateral relations and reflecting the long-term vision, strategic trust, and shared aspirations of both countries for a future of integration and sustainable development.

Based on that, the two sides agreed to set out a direction for cooperation between the two countries based on three main pillars: Partnership for Sustainable Peace, Partnership for Sustainable Development, and Partnership for a Sustainable Future.

Both sides agreed to further deepen political, defense, and security cooperation to maintain a peaceful, secure, and stable environment in both countries and the region; strengthen high-level contacts and cooperation mechanisms between the two countries, especially the Joint Cabinet Meeting and the Joint Committee on Bilateral Cooperation between Vietnam and Thailand, while also studying the upgrading of some existing cooperation mechanisms; and coordinate the organization of annual meetings between the two Prime Ministers within both bilateral and multilateral frameworks.

Both sides agreed to implement many practical activities to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Thailand in 2026 and to closely coordinate in developing an Action Program to implement the comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and Thailand for early signing.

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra speaks at the 4th Joint Cabinet Meeting between Vietnam and Thailand. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

Both sides agreed to promote and expand cooperation in the fields of security and defense, law and justice; committed to strengthening cooperation in combating transnational crime, especially drug trafficking, human trafficking and cybercrime; and reaffirmed their commitment not to allow any individual or organization to use the territory of one country against the other.

In the field of economic cooperation, both sides agreed to strengthen the connectivity between the two economies within the framework of the "Three Connections" Strategy, especially connecting supply chains, businesses, and localities of the two countries, including connecting road, waterway, and air transport infrastructure and connecting sustainable development strategies; facilitating each other's import and export of goods, striving to reach US$25 billion in the near future in a balanced and sustainable manner. Both sides committed to creating favorable conditions for businesses from each country to access markets and expand investment in the other country, especially in potential areas such as clean energy, digital economy, green economy, innovation, and high-tech agriculture; strengthening cooperation in labor, application of science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation, and green transformation.

Affirming that people-to-people exchanges are a valuable bridge in the relations between the two countries, both sides agreed to further promote people-to-people exchanges, maximize the framework of sister city relationships between localities, encourage the opening of more direct flights between localities of the two countries, and promote the realization of the "6 countries, 1 destination" tourism connectivity initiative. Both sides committed to creating favorable conditions for citizens of each country to live, work, and study in the other, including the Vietnamese community living, studying, and working in Thailand, contributing to preserving and developing the friendship and close ties between the people of the two countries.

Regarding regional and international cooperation, both sides agreed that, in the context of complex and volatile regional and global situations, the two countries will strengthen coordination and exchange on regional and international issues of common concern. They emphasized the importance of maintaining ASEAN's solidarity, self-reliance, and unity in diversity, strongly promoting the Association's central role, and maintaining peace, stability, security, safety, and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea on the basis of international law, especially UNCLOS 1982, and promoting the early adoption of an effective and substantive Code of Conduct (COC) in accordance with international law.

On this occasion, Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra cordially invited Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and other high-ranking Vietnamese leaders to visit Thailand. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed his gratitude and promised to arrange a visit at a suitable time.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the two sides adopted a Joint Statement on upgrading Vietnam-Thailand relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership; witnessed the signing ceremony of eight cooperation documents in the fields of economics, security, and education; and held a press conference to announce the results of the 4th Vietnam-Thailand Joint Cabinet Meeting.

PV (VNA)

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/thu-tuong-chinh-phu-pham-minh-chinh-va-thu-tuong-thai-lan-dong-chu-tri-hop-noi-cac-chung-viet-nam-thai-lan-lan-thu-4-20250516141732696.htm