Vietnam, Philippines strengthen strategic partnership

HANOI: The official visit to Vietnam by Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte from Sept 2829 is expected to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries, especially in politics, security, defence, and economics.

This is Duterte’s first visit to Vietnam and his fourth foreign trip since he took office on June 30 this year, Vietnam News Agency ( VNA) reported.

Vietnam and the Philippines set up diplomatic ties in July 1976.

They signed a bilateral cooperation framework for the first 25 years of the 21st century and beyond in November 2002.

The bilateral friendship and multi-faceted cooperation have been developing well based on mutual trust.

In October 2011, Vietnam and the Philippines inked an action programme for 20112016 to implement the bilateral cooperative relations in various fields.

In November 2015, the two countries’ foreign ministers signed a Joint Statement to establish the bilateral strategic partnership, ushering in a new era for bilateral cooperation.

Two-way trade has been growing in recent years, which topped US$ 2.92 billion in 2015 and US$1.72 billion in the first seven months of 2016 (a year- on-year rise of 17 per cent against the same period last year).

Since 2008, Vietnam has recorded an annual trade surplus of over US$ 1 billion to the Philippines, mainly from exporting rice, electronic spare parts, and farm produce. — Bernama