Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received the Minister

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that Vietnam always values and advocates for strengthening comprehensive cooperation with Belgium, as well as with Belgian regions and communities.

Thủ tướng Phạm Minh Chính tiếp ông Jan Jambon, Bộ trưởng - Thủ hiến vùng Flanders, Vương quốc Bỉ. (Nguồn: TTXVN)

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh receives Mr. Jan Jambon, Minister-President of the Flanders region, Kingdom of Belgium. (Source: VNA)

On the afternoon of September 12th, at the Government headquarters, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received Jan Jambon, Minister-President of the Flanders region of the Kingdom of Belgium, who is on a working visit to Vietnam from September 12th to 16th.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed his pleasure at meeting Minister-President of Flanders Jan Jambon again, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the Kingdom of Belgium, and the 5th anniversary of the establishment of the Strategic Partnership on Agriculture.

Affirming that Vietnam always values and advocates for strengthening comprehensive cooperation with Belgium, as well as with Belgian regions and communities, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highly appreciated the visit to Vietnam by the Minister-President of the Flanders region along with a delegation of 30 large businesses, as well as the rich working program with Vietnamese ministries, sectors, and localities.

Thanking the Prime Minister for receiving the delegation, Minister-President of the Flanders region Jan Jambon expressed his deep impression of Vietnam's dynamic socio-economic development.

Minister-President of Flanders Jan Jambon affirmed that Flanders always considers Vietnam a priority partner in the region and will promote further strengthening of friendly relations and effective, substantive cooperation with Vietnam in areas where Flanders has strengths, especially in transportation, port logistics, high technology, renewable energy, smart agriculture, and digital transformation.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested the Minister-President of the Flanders region to continue paying attention to developing relations with Vietnam, especially in economic, trade and investment cooperation, contributing to further promoting and strengthening Vietnam-Belgium relations.

Thanking the Flanders Regional Parliament for its early ratification of the Vietnam-EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), the Prime Minister requested the Flanders region to expedite the approval of the EVIPA by the Belgian Federal Parliament and expressed his hope that the Kingdom of Belgium would urge the European Commission (EC) to lift the IUU "yellow card" on Vietnamese seafood to maintain the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fishermen and meet the interests of millions of European consumers.

The Prime Minister also requested that the Flanders region continue to expand markets for Vietnamese exports, encourage businesses to operate and invest in Vietnam, and continue to support Vietnam in training, especially in the fields of agriculture, transportation, and port logistics.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested that the Flanders region continue to expand its market for Vietnamese exports. (Source: VNA)

For his part, Flanders' Minister-President Jan Jambon affirmed his support for trade liberalization and pledged to support Vietnam in strengthening comprehensive relations with the EU, and would promote the Federal Parliament's ratification of the EVIPA; he stated that early ratification of the EVIPA would bring practical benefits to investors from the Kingdom of Belgium and the EU.

Both sides agreed to strengthen cooperation on sustainable agriculture, investment in the construction and dredging of maritime routes; and to explore the establishment of a new cooperation mechanism between the Flanders region and regions of Vietnam to improve the quality and effectiveness of cooperation between Vietnam and Belgium.

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