Vietnamese Permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son (C)
co-chairs the consultation (Photo: VNA)
The two sides agreed to further promote their economic, trade, and investment ties and to fully tap into opportunities from the trend towards trade diversification and differing supply chains after COVID-19, and in the context of Vietnam being Canada’s largest trade partner in ASEAN and Canada being Vietnam’s third-largest trade partner in North America.
The two officials affirmed the continued promotion of cooperation in security and defence, health, education and training, climate change response, clean energy development, and relations between localities in the two countries.
In the context of Covid-19 continuing to be complex and unpredictable, the two sides agreed to enhance the sharing of information and to create favourable conditions for the citizens of each country to return home safely if stranded in the other.
Morgan thanked Vietnam for arranging a flight to bring stranded Canadians home, saying her country also supported Vietnam in organising three flights taking Vietnamese citizens home.
For his part, Son proposed Canada continue licensing flights bringing Vietnamese citizens home and to provide support to citizens, especially students, who remain in the country.
Regarding multilateral cooperation, Morgan highly valued the role of Vietnam as ASEAN Chair 2020, expressing the desire to participate more deeply in regional institutions, including the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM ) and the East Asia Summit (EAS).
The two sides pledged to work closely at international and regional forums this year, as Vietnam assumes both the ASEAN Chairmanship and non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council for the 2020-2021 term.