Newspaper welcomes Indonesian President's visit to Vietnam
Ha Noi, Aug.22 (VNA) -- Viet Nam's leading newspaper Nhan Dan today, August 22, described an official visit to Viet Nam by Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri as giving a fresh impetus to the development of the traditional friendship and time-honoured comprehensive cooperation between the two countries in the 21st century.
Welcoming the visit, the newspaper says in an editorial that Megawati's visits to neighbouring ASEAN countries, her first overseas trip since she became Indonesia's President last month, are aimed at boosting relations with friendly countries and strengthening confidence in Indonesia's political stability.
The trip also shows that Indonesia attaches importance to neighbouring ASEAN nations, including Viet Nam, in its foreign policy, Nhan Dan emphasizes, adding that Viet Nam and Indonesia have always worked together for their closer cooperation in ASEAN, APEC, ASEM and other international forums.
The newspaper praises Indonesia's effort to follow its foreign policy of peace, friendship, independence, neutrality and non-alignment over recent years, and says that Indonesia wishes to make Southeast Asia a peaceful, neutral and nuclear weapon-free zone.
Nhan Dan recalls the constant development of Viet Nam-Indonesia diplomatic ties since October 1955, marked by an official visit to Indonesia by the late President Ho Chi Minh in February 1959 and a return visit to Viet Nam by the late President Soekarno, in June 1959.
"Indonesia was the first country in Southeast Asia and South Pacific to bypass the Cambodian issue to promote cooperation of regional countries with Viet Nam and ushered in a new stage of bilateral relations between Viet Nam and Indonesia in 1990," Nhan Dan says.
Although the two have concluded a series of bilateral agreements to pave the way for stronger cooperation in all areas, the Viet Nam-Indonesia cooperation in trade and investment has not yet matched the potential and desire of both countries, with two-way trade at about USD 600 million last year and USD 303 million in the first half of 2001, the newspaper says.--VNA
