General Secretary, President To Lam meets with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya in Colombo
WVR - On the afternoon of May 8, during the State visit to Sri Lanka, in the capital Colombo, General Secretary, President To Lam met with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya.
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| General Secretary, President To Lam and Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya. (Source: VNA) |
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya warmly welcomed General Secretary, President To Lam and the high-level Vietnamese delegation on their first State visit to Sri Lanka, affirming that this visit marks a significant milestone in the traditional friendship between the two countries.
Expressing delight at the strong developments in bilateral relations, Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya emphasized that upgrading the relationship to a Comprehensive Partnership is of great significance, opening up new potential cooperation prospects, especially in the context of profound international and regional changes.
Sincerely thanking Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya for the warm and cordial reception by the State and people of Sri Lanka, General Secretary, President To Lam affirmed that Vietnam always values the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation with Sri Lanka. He also expressed appreciation for the affection and invaluable support Sri Lanka has extended to Vietnam in its past struggle for independence as well as in the current nation-building and development efforts.
General Secretary, President To Lam conveyed the greetings of Prime Minister Le Minh Hung to Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya.
On this occasion, General Secretary, President To Lam congratulated Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya and the Sri Lankan Government on achieving positive results in socio-economic development, macroeconomic stability, and gradual growth recovery. He expressed confidence that with the government's reform determination and management capacity, Sri Lanka will successfully achieve its development goals, emerging as a dynamic and increasingly important hub in the Indian Ocean region.
During the meeting, General Secretary, President To Lam shared some outstanding results from his talks with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, affirming that the agreement to upgrade the relationship to a Comprehensive Partnership establishes high-level political trust between the two countries, expanding the scale and scope of cooperation in a comprehensive and substantive manner.
General Secretary, President To Lam suggested that Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya direct relevant Sri Lankan agencies to coordinate with Vietnamese counterparts to implement the achieved results, particularly by enhancing political trust through maintaining exchanges of delegations, high-level contacts, and bilateral cooperation mechanisms.
The two leaders also welcomed and highly appreciated the positive results in various fields of cooperation. Emphasizing the potential in trade and investment cooperation, General Secretary, President To Lam proposed that the Sri Lankan Government facilitate and offer incentives for major Vietnamese enterprises to invest in sectors such as infrastructure, services, tourism, electric vehicles, technology, and telecommunications. He urged the implementation of specific measures to facilitate market access for goods from both countries, aiming for a trade turnover of 1 billion USD.
Both sides also agreed to consider signing government-level agreements to enhance cooperation in new, highly potential areas such as essential minerals, artificial intelligence, digital transformation, seaports, and aviation connectivity.
Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya shared her strong impression of General Secretary, President To Lam's inspiring speech at the Sri Lankan Parliament on the morning of May 8, noting that Vietnam's achievements and the cooperation proposals by General Secretary, State President To Lam align closely with Sri Lanka's aspirations.
Sharing with General Secretary, President To Lam the major orientations for bilateral relations, Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya affirmed that with the newly established Comprehensive Partnership foundation, the Sri Lankan Government will continue to closely coordinate with the Vietnamese Government to enhance cooperation across various fields. She hoped Vietnam would facilitate Sri Lankan enterprises to increase their presence in Vietnam and support, share experiences, and train Sri Lankan officials, civil servants, and students in Vietnam.
The two leaders agreed to work together to turn the good intentions and desires for bilateral relations into reality so that in the future, both countries can look back and take pride in the achievements stemming from today's determination.
On this occasion, the two leaders expressed confidence that the Vietnam-Sri Lanka Trade-Investment-Tourism Forum, organized during this visit with many cooperation documents to be signed, will provide a strong impetus for trade, investment, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries in the near future.
