(VOVworld) – During his visit to Azerbaijan, President Truong Tan Sang met Prime Minister Artur Rasizade and the two agreed that bilateral political ties have been strengthened by the exchange of high-ranking delegations and economic and trade cooperation.

President Truong Tan Sang (right) meets with Azerbaijani PM Artur Rasizade in Baku (Photo: Nguyen Khang/VNA)

President Sang suggested holding the first meeting of the Vietnam-Azerbaijan Inter-Government Committee on Economic-Trade and Science-Technology Cooperation soon to lay out a vision for the future.

The two leaders agreed that strengthening links in energy, oil, and gas is a key to future economic cooperation.

The same day, President Sang laid a wreath at a monument dedicated to the late Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev and a memorial to unknown soldiers.

President Sang also met professors, experts in the oil and gas sector, and naval officers involved in personnel training who used to live and work in Vietnam.

At the meeting, Mr. Sang expressed his thanks for the love and assistance of generations of Azerbaijanis in various fields.

He said: “I would like to thank the Azerbaijani people who helped Vietnam during our resistance wars and national reconciliation. I hope you will never forget the time you worked in the southern province of Vung Tau, at the Bach Ho oil field and the Russian-Vietnamese oil and gas joint venture Vietsovpetro. A number of Azerbaijani experts helped Vietnam survey oil and gas in the northern province of Thai Binh. We’ll never forget your valuable support.”

President Sang expressed thanks for the help of the former Soviet Union, including Azerbaijan, in developing an oil and gas industry with many skilled experts in exploration, exploitation, and processing.

He expressed his hope that Azerbaijan will continue to support Vietnam in training experts so that Vietnam’s oil and gas industry will continue to thrive.