The Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation took place from October 17-18 in Beijing, China. (Source: VGC)

Could you please tell us about the outstanding significance of the President's working trip to China to attend the 3rd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF)?

At the invitation of General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping, President Vo Van Thuong will attend BRF in China from October 17-20.

This is the first working trip to China and also the first multilateral foreign activity of President Vo Van Thuong in his new position. This is also the first BRF after a long interruption due to the pandemic, so it is highly valued and cared for by China and other countries.

Therefore, the participation of President Vo Van Thuong at this Forum is extremely important on both bilateral and multilateral levels.

On the multilateral level, in the context of the slow recovery of the world economy, countries wish to strengthen regional and global economic links to promote economic recovery. The participation of President Vo Van Thuong demonstrates Vietnam's strong commitment to multilateralism and proactiveness in enhancing regional and global economic cooperation and links.

President Vo Van Thuong will join leaders and representatives of more than 140 countries and international organizations to discuss important contents and topics considered as new driving forces for the economic recovery process of each country as well as the global economy such as: green transformation, digital transformation, digital innovation, modern agriculture, development of small and medium enterprises, startups, etc.

On the bilateral level, this working trip of President Vo Van Thuong is highly valued by the leaders of the two countries. This is a high-level foreign activity in the year commemorating the 15th anniversary of the Vietnam-China Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership.

The meetings between President Vo Van Thuong and key Chinese leaders will contribute to enhancing political trust, maintaining the momentum of the relationship as well as creating new cooperation opportunities, especially after many high-level activities between the two countries, especially the official visit to China by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (October 2022).

Thereby contributing to the development of the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership in a more healthy, stable and sustainable manner in the coming time.

Permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu answers questions from the press on the occasion of President Vo Van Thuong's preparation to attend the 3rd BRF. (Photo: Tuan Anh)

Could the Permanent Deputy Minister please tell us about the cooperation expectations that will be promoted during this working trip of the President?

Firstly, in the context of a global economic downturn, rising protectionism and slowing globalization, President Vo Van Thuong's participation at the 3rd BRF will contribute to strengthening the trend of strengthening regional and global economic connectivity, especially when Vietnam is a country with a large economic openness.

Second, President Vo Van Thuong and leaders of China and other countries exchanging and discussing contents that are suitable for Vietnam's development orientation such as: green growth, digital economy, innovation, development of small and medium enterprises, anti-corruption and ensuring integrity in the economic cooperation process... will contribute to creating lessons and experiences, thereby mobilizing resources and expanding economic cooperation.

Meetings between President Vo Van Thuong and key Chinese leaders as well as other international leaders attending the conference will open up many new cooperation opportunities for Vietnam.

With China, the two sides will continue to discuss measures to enhance high-level and all-level exchanges; promote more sustainable and balanced economic, trade and investment relations in the coming time; strengthen infrastructure cooperation, especially within the framework of the "Two Corridors, One Belt" and "One Belt, One Road" connections, which will also create extremely important cooperation orientations for Vietnamese ministries, branches and localities to coordinate with Chinese partners to continue bringing the relationship between the two countries into a new stage with higher political trust, more substantive cooperation, a more consolidated social foundation and better resolved disagreements .

Thank you, Permanent Deputy Minister!