Locsin off to a 2-day official trip to Vietnam

This will be Locsin’s first bilateral visit to Vietnam since he assumed office in October 2018. (File Photo: @DFAPHL/Twitter)

MANILA— Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. is scheduled to visit Vietnam from July 8 to 9 to build on the “positive momentum” in the two nations’ ties brought by the recent adoption of its semi-decade or 5-year action plan.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the trip is upon the invitation of Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh to Locsin.

This will be Locsin’s first bilateral visit to Vietnam since he assumed office in October 2018.

“The visit is seen to build on the positive momentum stemming from the 9th Meeting of the Philippines-Vietnam Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) held in Manila in March this year, which also saw the adoption of the Philippines-Vietnam Plan of Action for 2019-2024,” the DFA, through Assistant Secretary Emmanuel Fernandez, said in a statement Friday.

The new five-year plan of action maps specific commitments the two nations will jointly undertake to bolster cooperation in the areas of political, security, economic, and cultural spheres.

In his recent trip to Manila, Minister Pham said the Philippines and Vietnam are among the fastest growing economies in Asia and this is conducive to further promoting its trade and investment relations.

In 2018 alone, the two neighbors’ bilateral trade turnover reached USD4.72 billion, up 18 percent against 2017.

On July 8, Locsin will be holding a bilateral meeting with Minister Pham in Hanoi “to discuss issues of mutual importance”, the DFA said.

While in Vietnam, the Filipino official is also scheduled to call on Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and visit the Philippine embassy in Hanoi.