On the morning of 14 October local time, Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council met in Hanoi with General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong. Tran Quoc Vuong, member of the Secretariat of the CPV Central Committee and Director of the CPV Central Committee Office, was present at the meeting.
Li Keqiang first conveyed the cordial greetings from Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, to Nguyen Phu Trong. Li Keqiang said that China and Vietnam are linked by mountains and rivers, with cultural affinity, the same political system and in-depth development of exchanges and cooperation in all fields. The international and regional situations are now undergoing complex and profound changes, and China and Vietnam are both in the crucial stage of development. Both sides should unswervingly promote China-Vietnam friendship from a strategic and long-term perspective and under the guidance of the principle of long-term stability, future-orientation, good-neighborliness and comprehensive cooperation and the spirit of "good neighbors, good friends, good comrades and good partners". China is ready to maintain high-level strategic communication with Vietnam, to strengthen the sharing of experience on state governance, to adhere to prioritizing economy and people's livelihood and to deepen practical cooperation so as to push forward China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to a new high.
Li Keqiang pointed out that whether the South China Sea issue can be properly managed is not only related to the feelings between the two peoples, but also involves exploring political and security environment for large-scale cooperation in infrastructure investment and other fields. Yesterday, I reached important consensus with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on advancing maritime, onshore and financial cooperation in parallel between China and Vietnam. Both sides agreed, based on enhancing political mutual trust and consolidating traditional friendship, to properly manage and control differences, not to let the South China Sea issue interfere with the big picture of bilateral cooperation, to effectively implement the consensus reached between both sides and to push the working group for consultations on joint maritime development and other cooperation mechanisms to make substantive progress as soon as possible, so as to promote bilateral practical cooperation in all fields, to implement the spirit of "good neighbors, good friends, good comrades and good partners" and to bring tangible benefits to the people of the two countries and of the region.
Nguyen Phu Trong asked Li Keqiang to convey his cordial greetings to General Secretary Xi Jinping. He said that the Vietnamese side will bear in mind forever China's precious support and help. Vietnam and China share extensive common interest and are facing common opportunities and challenges as well. The Vietnamese party and government attach great importance to relations with China and are ready to maintain close communication with the Chinese side, to firmly support each other and to properly manage differences, in order to ensure healthy and stable development of bilateral relations. During Premier Li Keqiang's current visit, the leaders of the two countries reached very good consensus on bilateral maritime, onshore and financial cooperation and set the overall direction of bilateral cooperation. I would like to express warm welcome and high appreciation for this. The Vietnamese side is ready to work with China to fully implement the consensus in a bid to further consolidate good-neighbourly friendship, to deepen comprehensive cooperation and to enhance the wellbeing of the two peoples.
On the morning of the same day, Li Keqiang laid a wreath at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.