Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh speaks at the ceremony (Photo: VNA)

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and Chinese State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday co-chaired a ceremony held in Bac Luan Bridge II  between Vietnam’s Mong Cai border gate and China’s Dongxing border gate.

Deputy Prime Minister Minh said the Party, State and people of Vietnam always attach great importance to maintaining the friendly neighborliness with China and stand ready to deepen the bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. He proposed the two countries to continue coordinating in border management and promoting the role of the Vietnam-China Land Border Joint Committee. He also urged the two sides to further substantial cooperation in economics, trade and tourism along the shared border and to beef up friendly exchange and win-win partnership between border localities in each nation. 

State Counsellor Yi called on the two countries to well handle issues emerging along the shared border and improve the effectiveness of border management. He said the good settlement of land border and Gulf of Tonkin issues between the two sides will provide valuable experience for resolving maritime disputes.

After the celebration, both leaders visited a photo exhibition on the planning, demarcating and setting up land border markers. They visited the memorial house of President Ho Chi Minh in Mong Cai city, visited and painted a pair of border markers 1369 in the area of Bac Luan Bridge I, the first border markers installed on the Vietnam-China land border on October 14, 2010.