Hanoi (VNA) –Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship Jorge Faurie held talks withDeputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh in Hanoi on July 30to seek ways to boost bilateral ties.

The two sides showedtheir delight at the growth of Vietnam-Argentina cooperation over the past 45years across all fields, with strengthened political ties and trust throughvisits and meetings between their senior leaders.

Bilateral tradeincreased to over 3 billion USD in 2017, 10 times higher than the figure from adecade ago.

Minh thanked theArgentine side for supporting Vietnam’s candidacy as a non-permanent member ofthe UN Security Council for the 2020-2021 tenure.

He lauded Argentina’s signingof the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), while asking theLatin American country to promptly finalise procedures to open its market for Vietnamesefruits such as lychee, dragon fruit, longan, and mango.

Faurie affirmed thatArgentina considers Vietnam an important partner in the Southeast Asian region,while also lauding the role and position of Vietnam in the region and the world.

He said his country iskeen to expand friendship and all-round cooperation with Vietnam, especially ineconomy, trade, and technology, thus creating optimal conditions for closerlinks among businesses of both sides and balancing bilateral trade.

Both sides agreed tocontinue maintaining and increasing the exchange of high-level visits and amongministries and sectors, while effectively implementing the mechanisms of Inter-GovernmentalCommittee and Political Consultation at the deputy foreign ministerial level.

The two countries willpush the negotiations, signing, and implementation of specific cooperationprogrammes in the fields of agriculture, pharmaceuticals, processing andmanufacturing industry, information and technology, biotechnology, security anddefence, and tourism.

Vietnam and Argentinawill also continue to work closely together and support each other atinternational organisations and multilateral forums.

At the talks, the twosides also discussed regional and international issues of shared concern,including matters relating to the East Sea.

The same day, Faurie,who is on a visit to Vietnam from July 28-31, had working sessions withMinister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh and head of the Party CentralCommittee’s Commission for External Relations Hoang Binh Quan. He and leadersof the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also co-chaired a regionalconference on technology cooperation in agriculture and industry in Hanoi. –VNA