General Secretary and President To Lam successfully concludes his state visit to Canada

According to a VNA special correspondent, on the evening of September 25 (local time), the special plane carrying General Secretary and President To Lam and the high-level Vietnamese delegation left Ottawa, successfully concluding their state visit to Canada, at the invitation of Canadian Governor-General Louise Arbour.

Within the framework of the visit, immediately after the Official Welcoming Ceremony, General Secretary and President To Lam met with Canadian Governor-General Louise Arbour; Chairman of the Senate and Chairman of the House of Representatives of Canada; held talks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney; delivered policy speeches at the Canadian Parliament House; received General Secretary of the Communist Party of Canada Drew Garvie, the Canada-Vietnam Friendship Association, a number of leading Canadian corporations, businesses, and investment funds; attended the Vietnam-Canada Business Summit; met with the Network of Vietnamese Experts and Scientists in Canada; met with officials and staff of the Vietnamese Embassy and the Vietnamese community in Canada.

At the meetings, the two sides agreed to assess the important achievements of Vietnam-Canada relations in more than 50 years of building and strengthening friendly relations and nearly 10 years of implementing the Comprehensive Partnership framework. Political trust and mutual understanding are constantly being strengthened; economy, trade and investment have become an important foundation of bilateral relations; defense-security, education-training, science-technology, culture and people-to-people exchanges continue to be expanded.

On that basis, the two sides agreed that Vietnam-Canada relations have fully met the conditions to enter a new stage of development, upgrading to a Strategic Partnership, with a higher level of political trust, deeper and more substantive cooperation and closer intertwined interests. The two sides agreed to soon develop a specific agenda and action plan to effectively implement the new relationship framework.

Exchanging views on regional and international issues, the two sides agreed that in the context of a world with many fluctuations and intertwined challenges, countries need to strengthen dialogue, cooperation, promote multilateralism, and respect the United Nations Charter and international law.

The two sides agreed to continue to coordinate at the United Nations, ASEAN, APEC, Francophone Community, CPTPP Agreement and appropriate multilateral mechanisms; support ASEAN's central role, support Canada to strengthen engagement and cooperation with ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific region, and jointly contribute to addressing common challenges, promoting peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and in the world.

At the talks between General Secretary, President To Lam and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the two sides issued a Joint Statement on the Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and Canada.

Accordingly, Vietnam - Canada relations become a Strategic Partnership based on 8 pillars: bilateral, regional and multilateral cooperation; trade, investment, finance and economic cooperation; cooperation in transportation, supply chain management and infrastructure; cooperation in digital transformation, artificial intelligence, advanced technology and innovation; cooperation in energy security, environment and sustainable growth; cooperation in food security and agriculture - food; cooperation in defense, security, maritime, law enforcement and justice; cooperation in education, culture and people-to-people exchanges.

During the visit, speaking on the policy of "Vietnam - Canada Strategic Partnership in the context of a volatile world" at the Canadian Parliament House, General Secretary and President To Lam expressed that the world will continue to change, hoping that parliamentarians will continue to accompany, so that today's vision is followed by actions and tomorrow's results. Vietnam is ready to work with Canada to build a deep Strategic Partnership, bringing practical benefits to the people of the two countries and contributing to the international community.

On this occasion, leaders of the two countries witnessed the handover ceremony of cooperation documents between the two countries' agencies. The two sides expressed their belief that these documents, along with the framework of the newly established Strategic Partnership, will bring Vietnam-Canada cooperation to develop more deeply, practically and effectively, making positive contributions to peace, stability, cooperation and sustainable development in the region and in the world.

Read the original here