Trong sets stage for strategic partnership

Vietnamese Communist Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong wrapped up his official three-day visit to Thailand yesterday with an agreement to upgrade bilateral relations to a “strategic partnership” and forge greater cooperation in all sectors.

The governments and foreign ministries of the two countries will finalise details of the cooperation and action plan by this October, said Hoang Binh Quan, chairman of the Central Commission for External Relations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

The strategic partnership will boost cooperation in five key areas: politics; security; economy; culture, education, science, technology; and regional cooperation, he said.

 “Our agreement will lead to more high-level visits, especially in areas of economics, political relations and security,” said Quan in an interview.

During Trong’s visit, which included discussions on the strategic partnership initiative, the Party General Secretary also found time visit Thailand’s Vietnamese community in the Northeast’s Nakhon Phanom province, before leaving for Hanoi yesterday. 

It is the first time in more than 20 years that a party leader of the Vietnamese Communist Party has visited Thailand. The last visitor was Do Muoi, in 1993. 

Under the strategic partnership, Vietnam and Thailand will seek more cooperation on rice production and trade with the aim to play a larger role in the world market, Quan said.

The move was a key development for Thailand, which has been expressing a keen interest in strengthening cooperation in rice production with its number one competitor since 1990. 

Quan explained that Vietnam also wanted greater cooperation with Thailand on rice production but said there were too many players and market obstacles for the two countries to jointly take on the global rice market together.

 “The Rice market is very complex and in continuous flux. The market does not belong to any particular seller. I think we [Thailand and Vietnam] should expand our cooperation with the intention of talking to other countries such as India, Pakistan, Myanmar and Cambodia,” said Quan. He added that market forces and the price of rice were just two areas in a much broader cooperation agreement with Thailand on rice production, which also included processing and production technology. 

Quan said the private sector should also play a key role in the two countries’ cooperation and noted that the Thai private sector would soon host a joint meeting on rice production to exchange views and information beneficial to both countries’ respective processing, marketing and branding capabilities. 

Vietnam praised Thailand for its leading role in strengthening China and Asean relation and for seeking solutions to peacefully end conflicts of sovereignty in the South China Sea. Vietnam and other regional nations, including the Philippines, have had a number of territorial disputes with China over the sovereignty of certain islands.

Hanoi called on all concerned to find a peaceful solution to the territorial disputes, while also respecting international laws and practices, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea; the Asean Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea; and the Asean six-point principle on the South China Sea, mapped out in Phnom Penh last year.

 “Like many others in this region, Vietnam wants a peace and safe navigation of the Eastern Sea,” said Quan.