HANOI, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham
Binh Minh met with his Sri Lankan counterpart G.L. Peiris for talks over
bilateral relations in capital Hanoi on Tuesday during his four-day visit to
Vietnam.
During the meeting, Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh spoke
highly of Peiris's visit to Vietnam, adding that his visit plays an important
role in further expanding the Vietnam-Sri Lanka multifaceted traditional friendship
relations.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris, for his part, expressed his
impression on achievements Vietnam has gained during the innovation and
economic development process.
The two ministers expressed delight at the positive development of the
bilateral relations during the past years and agreed to further cooperation in
fields of politic, defense and security, economic, trade and investment, oil,
gas, and education.
The two sides also agreed to study on signing the Vietnam-Sri Lanka
Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) in the future.
In 2011, the Vietnam-Sri Lanka bilateral trade turnover reached 100
million U.S. dollars and is expected to hit one billion U.S. dollars by 2015.
