President and First Lady host welcoming ceremony for Bhutanese King and Queen
This morning, August 19, at the Presidential Palace, President Luong Cuong and his wife presided over the welcoming ceremony for Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen on a state visit to Vietnam.
Many children from the capital were present at the Presidential Palace waving the flags of both countries to welcome King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and the Queen along with the high-ranking delegation of Bhutan.
The motorcade escorting the King and Queen of Bhutan entered the Presidential Palace, where President Luong Cuong and his wife warmly welcomed them on the red carpet. Afterwards, children from the capital came forward to present the King of Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and the Queen with fresh bouquets of flowers.
To the sound of welcoming music, President Luong Cuong and the King walked along the red carpet to the waving of children to step onto the podium of honor.
After the military band played the national anthems of both countries, the two leaders reviewed the Guard of Honor of the Vietnam People's Army. Next, the President and King of Bhutan introduced the high-ranking delegations of the two countries attending the welcoming ceremony.
After the welcoming ceremony, President Luong Cuong and King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck led high-ranking delegations from the two countries to hold talks, assess the results of cooperation between the two countries in recent times and propose directions for cooperation in the future.
The two leaders will witness the signing of cooperation documents.
Appreciating Bhutan's unique development model
In an atmosphere of openness, sincerity, trust and mutual understanding, President Luong Cuong warmly welcomed the King of Bhutan to Vietnam. This is the first visit by a Bhutanese head of state to Vietnam since the establishment of diplomatic relations and takes place on the occasion of Vietnam's 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day on September 2, which is of special significance, opening a new page in the relationship between the two countries.
The President highly appreciated Bhutan's unique development model, using the overall national happiness index as a measure, in which people, nature, culture and people's happiness are promoted in a balanced and harmonious way, placing people at the center of development, valuing cultural identity and preserving the living environment.
The King of Bhutan sincerely thanked the Party, State and people of Vietnam for the warm and respectful reception given to the delegation.
President Luong Cuong and King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan witnessed the signing of two cooperation documents: a framework document on cooperation between the two governments and a document on cooperation in the aviation sector.
The King said that the Bhutanese people respect President Ho Chi Minh and admire Vietnam's great achievements during the 80 years of fighting for national independence and development. He believes that Vietnam will achieve its sustainable development goals and wishes to study and learn from Vietnam's governance model and economic development experience.
Bhutan values Vietnam's role and position in the Asia-Pacific region and wishes to strengthen cooperation with Vietnam in areas of strength and potential.
Encourage airlines to consider opening direct flights soon
President Luong Cuong and King Jigme said that the friendship between Vietnam and Bhutan is nurtured by warm friendship, harmony in spiritual values and vision, and philosophy of sustainable development.
In that spirit, the two sides agreed to continuously strengthen friendship and mutual understanding, promote more frequent high-level visits and promote the signing of cooperation agreements to create a favorable framework for implementing specific projects and activities.
Emphasizing that the potential for economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two sides is still very large, President Luong Cuong and King Jigme agreed to encourage agencies, ministries, sectors and businesses of the two countries to promote cooperation, facilitate opening for goods from one country to access the other's market, towards diversifying the supply chain, striving to increase trade turnover many times over.
The two sides agreed to expand cooperation in agriculture, science and technology, innovation, education, training, culture and arts; and encourage airlines to soon consider opening direct flights to promote cultural, religious, tourism and people-to-people exchanges. The two leaders also shared experiences in honoring each country's traditional cultural heritage; and expanded cooperation in new areas towards sustainable development, in order to improve the material and spiritual lives of the people.
In the context of complex changes in the world and the region, the two leaders expressed their delight at the fact that the two countries share many similar views at international forums, especially on issues of sustainable development, climate change response, nature conservation and peacekeeping. The two leaders emphasized that they will continue to coordinate and support each other at international and regional organizations, especially the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement as well as on issues of mutual concern.
President Luong Cuong welcomed Bhutan's expansion of relations and substantive cooperation and is ready to create conditions to enhance connectivity with Southeast Asian countries.
