General Secretary To Lam emphasized that Vietnam and Belgium should continue to promote cooperation in many fields, including science and technology.
In the reception of King Philippe at the Party Central Committee on the afternoon of April 1, General Secretary To Lam emphasized that the two countries need to deepen cooperation in the fields of trade – investment, sustainable agriculture, training high quality human resources, culture, tourism, people exchange, and promote cooperation in science, technology and innovation.
King Philippe said that with the similarity of geographical location located in the center of Europe and Southeast Asia, the two sides need to promote cooperation to become each other’s gateway in each region. The two countries need to work closely to solve global challenges such as climate change and environment.
General Secretary To Lam and King Philippe in Hanoi on April 1. Image: Giang Huy
King Philippe agreed with the proposal of the General Secretary on strengthening the delegation and contact at all levels, promoting the effectiveness of bilateral cooperation mechanisms, expanding cooperation in potential areas such as education – training, national defense, security, renewable energy, especially wind turbines, blue hydrogen, medical, environmental, including the overcoming the consequences of Agent Orange.
The two and Belgian unified leaders need to coordinate closely at international and regional forums to promote multilateralism, rule of law, promote international responsibility to resolve regional and global challenges.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and King Philippe in Hanoi on April 1. Image: Giang Huy
Also in the afternoon of 1/4, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met King Philippe at the Government Headquarters. The Prime Minister expected Belgium to soon have a specific project to implement the Resolution to support victims of Vietnam Agent Orange, which was approved by the Belgian Parliament in October 2023.
Prime Minister and King Philippe agreed to deepen cooperation in traditional fields such as economics, culture – art, tourism, cooperation between localities, actively deploy the content of strategic partnerships on agriculture to cope with non -traditional challenges such as climate change, natural disasters and epidemics.
The Prime Minister asked the two countries to promote cooperation in high -tech fields, circulating economy, strategic infrastructure, human resource training, and suggest Belgium soon approve the Vietnam -EU investment protection agreement (EVIPA) and promote the EC to remove the IUU yellow card for Vietnamese aquatic products.
King Philippe highly appreciated the role and position of Vietnam in the region, agreed to create conditions for businesses of the two countries to strengthen investment and business activities in Vietnam and Belgium.
National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man and King Philippe in Hanoi on April 1. Image: Giang Huy
On the same day, National Assembly Chairwoman Tran Thanh Man met with King Philippe, said that Belgium promoted the attention to the victims of Agent Orange with the Belgian National Assembly approving the Resolution in October 2023.
King Philippe said that Belgium has experience and is willing to cooperate to help Vietnam detoxify areas contaminated with Agent Orange. He also affirmed that Evipa was beneficial for both countries and Belgium to complete the process of approving this agreement.
King Philippe and Queen are on a visit to the State level from March 31 to April 4. This is the first time King Philippe came to Vietnam as the head of the Royal Family. Earlier, when he held the prince, he visited Vietnam in 1993, 2003 and 2012.