Việt Nam, Philippines to advance maritime cooperation, handle sea issues

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam and the Philippines on Wednesday agreed to strongly push maritime cooperation and quickly handle sea issues through improved bilateral coordination, during the meeting chaired by the two countries' foreign ministers in Hà Nội. Philippines' Secretary for Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo is on a two-day visit to Việt Nam to co-chair the 10th meeting of the Việt Nam-Philippines Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC-10) with his Vietnamese counterpart Bùi Thanh Sơn. Secretary Manalo expressed pleasure at his first visit to Việt Nam and emphasised that Việt Nam was also the first country he has visited since taking office. He affirmed that the Philippines always values the consolidation and development of friendly and cooperative relations in many fields with Việt Nam, the Philippines' only strategic partner in ASEAN. Việt Nam remains the Philippines' only strategic partner in ASEAN and one of the two in the world.