Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang met with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son on Sunday in Beijing, vowing to strengthen strategic cooperation and deepen practical cooperation.

Qin spoke highly of the visit of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong last October, saying the meeting of the two heads of state has led the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and Vietnam into a new era.

He told his Vietnamese counterpart that China regards Vietnam as a priority in its neighborhood diplomacy and attaches great importance to Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit to China.

"We believe that this visit will inject new impetus into implementing the high-level consensus and deepening China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic cooperation," Qin said.

At the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Qiang, the Vietnamese prime minister is paying an official visit to China from June 25 to 28 and will attend the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2023, also known as the Summer Davos Forum, which is set to be held in north China's Tianjin Municipality.

Saying China and Vietnam are close neighbors connected by mountains and rivers, and share similar ideals and beliefs, Qin added that both countries should strengthen strategic communication, speed up the docking of development strategies and expand cooperation, so as to push for greater development of bilateral relations.

For his part, Son said that Vietnam regards its relations with China as a top priority, that it will unequivocally adhere to the one-China policy and that it firmly supports the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

He added that this year marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, and it's also Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's first visit to China.

He expressed his hope that through this visit, the two countries can better implement the consensus reached by the general secretaries of the two parties, strengthen strategic communication and further deepen practical cooperation, so as to achieve more results in bilateral relations.