PM Nguyen Tan Dung works with Kazakh counterpart

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (left) met with his Kazakh counterpart Karim Masimov (Photo: VNA)

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung had a working session with his Kazakh counterpart, Karim Masimov, on May 29 on the margin of the signing ceremony on the free trade agreement (FTA) between Vietnam and the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU).

The two leaders expressed their satisfaction at the sound political ties between Vietnam and Kazakhstan thanks to their coordination and mutual support in the international arena.

They agreed that the economic ties between the two countries have seen positive changes over the past time, with two-way trade reaching 240 million USD in 2014, up 1.5 times against the previous year.

It is necessary for the two countries to further improve the efficiency of the Vietnam-Kazakhstan inter-governmental committee on economic, trade, science-technology cooperation, they said.

This will help enhance the bilateral partnership in potential fields, including the oil and gas processing and exploiting coordination between the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and the Kazakhstan National Oil and Gas Company (KazMunaiGaz) in Kazakhstan as well as in other countries, they added.

They also suggested increasing bilateral trade exchanges and facilitate the exports of Vietnamese farm produce and seafood to the Kazakh market.

During the meeting, the two Prime Ministers exchanged cooperation orientations in the field of national defence-security and increasing cooperation at local level.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung confirmed that Vietnam attaches great importance to developing its traditional friendship with Kazakhstan – a key partner of the Southeast Asian country in middle Asia .

He extolled the role and initiative of Kazakhstan at international forums such as the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

He asked Kazakhstan to support the maintenance of peace, stability, navigation and aviation safety and freedom in the East Sea, and the settlement of any disputes via peaceful means and in line with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC).

For his part, Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov described the signing of the Vietnam-EAEU free trade pact as an important progress in the multilateral cooperation between Vietnam and other regional countries.

He expressed his belief that Vietnam and Kazakhstan in particular will implement effectively the contents featured in the agreement.

He affirmed that the Kazakh Government always supports the expansion and development of cooperative ties with Vietnam, and vows to double its efforts to deepen the bilateral relations.

After the working session, the two leaders witnessed the signing of a minutes on the exchange of documents ratifying the mutual judicial assistance agreement between Vietnam and Kazakhstan, a cooperation programme in the 2015-2017 period between the Vietnamese and Kazakh Ministries of Justice, and a cooperation agreement on culture and sports between the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Kazakh Ministry of Culture and Sports.-VNA

PM Nguyen Tan Dung works with Kazakh counterpart Related image(s)