Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Beirut, Oct. 20 (VNA) -- President Tran Duc Luong has expressed the wish to boost cooperative ties with Lebanon, Switzerland, Canada and Burkina Faso during his meetings with leaders of these countries on the sideline of the Francophone Summit in Beirut.

At the talks with President Emile Lahoud, the Vietnamese leader spoke highly of the achievements recorded by the Lebanese people in their national reconstruction and economic development in recent years.

President Luong took the occasion to express Viet Nam's support for Lebanon's efforts to safeguard national independence and territorial integrity.

"Viet Nam wishes to further enhance friendship and cooperation with Lebanon, bilaterally and within the Francophone framework," President Luong told Lebanese counterpart.

Both leaders were of the same view that more frequent exchange of visits would be arranged by ministries and agencies of the two countries, saying those visit would pave the way for further cooperation between Viet Nam and Lebanon.

During his meeting with Swiss President Sem Kaspar Villiger, President Luong expressed his satisfaction at the fruitful development of relations between Viet Nam and Switzerland in the recent past. He noted that bilateral development, trade and investment cooperation saw vigorous expansion in recent years.

He thanked the Swiss Government for its effective official development assistance (ODA) to Viet Nam, particularly its support to the country to join the World Trade Organisation.

The Swiss leader pledged to beef up cooperation with Viet Nam, especially in the areas where his country possessed great expertise such as finance, banking, precise mechanical engineering, pharmaceuticals, food processing, and small- and medium-sized enterprise development.

Speaking to Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, President Luong highly valued the role played by Canada in the Asian-Pacific region.

"Recent years saw important development steps of bilateral cooperation between Viet Nam and Canada," Luong noted. He expressed thanks to the Canadian Government for its provision of ODA to Viet Nam. Canada's ODA funding has been mainly poured into community development, administrative reform, environmental management, and hunger elimination and poverty reduction projects in Viet Nam.

PM Jean Chretien noted that bilateral economic-commercial ties between Canada and Viet Nam remained modest compared to their potential. He, therefore, called for more drastic measures to further enhance bilateral cooperation.

At his meeting with President S. M. M. Blaise Compaore, President Luong spoke highly of the active role played by Burkina Faso in the French-speaking community (Francophone) and the Africa Union.

"Viet Nam is ready to share its expertise with Burkina Faso in agricultural development," Mr.Luong assured his counterpart.

The two sides should explore the possibility to expand bilateral cooperation in education, health care, and goods exchange, Mr.Luong proposed, adding that Burkina Faso could import food, commodities and garment from Viet Nam.

President Blaise Compaore pointed to the fact that bilateral cooperation remained restricted despite the presence of a framework agreement on economic, trade, cultural, scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries.

The two leaders agreed to work out suitable measures and define cooperative fields of high efficiency in order to take bilateral cooperation to a new height of development.

The ninth Francophone Summit successfully closed in Beirut on Oct. 20 with the adoption of the Beirut Declaration, stressing the importance of "dialogues between cultures" as tools of peace, democracy and human rights.

Leaders, who came from 55 member countries, agreed to organise the next summit in Burkina Faso in 2005.

Also on Sunday, President Luong left Beirut for an official visit to Iran as guest of his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Khatami.

He will also tour Namibia, Angola, Congo and France after Iran.--Enditem

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Beirut, Oct. 19 (VNA)-- President Tran Duc Luong on Oct. 18 met with President Ion Iliescu of Romania, President V. Voronin of Moldova, and President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, on separate occasions, to discuss bilateral ties on the sideline of the Francophone summit in Beirut, Lebanon.

President Luong and his Romanian counterpart Iliescu mooted measures to promote cooperative ties. They concluded that the two Governments would make concerted efforts to work out solutions for tapping the potential of each country so as to boost economic, commercial, educational and training cooperation for mutual benefits.

The Vietnamese State leader expressed satisfaction over the development of relations between Viet Nam and Romania over the recent past, describing it as "positive". He said the Viet Nam visit in last February by the Romanian President himself marked a milestone in their relations, especially in economic and commercial areas.

Meanwhile, the Romanian Head of State expressed his hope that the two countries' responsible agencies would discuss concrete measures to effectively implement programmes of cooperation in economics and trade between the two countries.

In their meeting, President Tran Duc Luong and Moldovan President V. Voronin agreed to the need to exchange visits at all levels and sign an agreement on the establishment of a joint-governmental committee on economic and commercial cooperation as soon as possible. They said that those tasks should be done soon to lay a legal foundation for boosting bilateral ties in the new state of development, and help businesses of the two countries to study each other's markets, especially in agriculture, food processing, consumer goods production and garment making, where the two countries have great potential.

At a meeting with Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, President Tran Duc Luong highly valued Senegal's role in the African Alliance and the West African Economic Community in promoting economic cooperation and settlement of African matters. President Luong affirmed that Viet Nam hoped to expand cooperation between the two countries in various fields, particularly commerce, science and technology.

President Wade said that the successful execution of the tripartite agriculture cooperation programme - Viet Nam-Food and Agriculture Organisation-Senegal is a fine example of South-South cooperation.

President Luong also met with General Director of the Francophone University Agency (AUF) Michele Gendreau Massloux. He highlighted the results of AUF programmes and projects being implemented in Viet Nam. He said he hoped that AUF would continue its assistance to promote these projects in a long-term cooperation framework.

Mme Massloux said that after carrying out its reform, the AUF has been operating more effectively. She spoke about AUF's plan to expand its activiries by promoting cooperation with universities and research institutes of other countries which are not members of the Francophone community.

During his meeting with Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure , President Luong reiterated that Viet Nam attaches importance to the fine traditional relations with African friendly countries, including Mali. He thanked the Malian Government and people for their assistance and support to Viet Nam in the past struggle for national independence as well as in the present national construction.

President Toure expressed his satisfaction at the fine development of the traditional ties between Mali and Viet Nam. The two countries have constantly supported each other in national construction and defence. President Toure said that Viet Nam and Mali - both members of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Francophone community - have many similarities and favourable conditions to further boost their cooperation in economy, commerce, expertise, healthcare, education and training.--Enditem