Participation as a guest of honor and speaker at the inaugural ceremony of the United Nations Vesak Day, in the Southern City Ho Chi Minh, closed the Dissanayak program, which reaffirmed the old existing Buddhist ties between the two countries.
In the meetings with the Vietnamese leaders, both parties observed with satisfaction the development of traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries, which extends over 55 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations on July 21, 1970, said a joint statement issued here the eve.
The text emphasizes that these links are based on “a high level of political trust, close interpersonal ties and warm feelings between the two peoples.”
It also emphasizes that the warm friendship and the valuable support that both nations have provided each other in the national development process laid a solid basis for greater strengthening and deepening of bilateral relations in the coming years.
The declaration also reaffirms the commitment to strengthen national defense and security cooperation, promote collaboration in education and training, the exchange of delegations, as well as experiences in UN peacekeeping operations.
Both parties- addressed- also highlighted the importance of strengthening cooperation in the fight against transnational crimes such as terrorism, illegal immigration and cyber crimes, and discussed the opportunities for collaboration in the defense industry to strengthen the development of capacities of both countries.
They also agreed to adopt pragmatic measures to increase bilateral trade, and boost more solid investment flows between the two countries.
The Vietnamese part, points out the text, positively valued Sri Lanka’s investments in 33 projects with a total registered capital of more than 43 million dollars as of March 31, 2025.
On the other hand, the leaders agreed on the importance of increasing air connectivity to ensure rapid growth of tourism, while recognizing the important cooperation potential in the agricultural sector, and their respective strengths in artificial intelligence (AI), electronic commerce and digital transformation.}
In that sense, they shared the commitment to take advantage of emerging technologies for sustainable development, the improvement of public services and economic growth promoted by innovation.
lam/mpm
