Vietnam is making all efforts to organize the Olympic torch relay in its southern Ho Chi Minh City late this month, making an active contribution to the success of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Vietnamese top leaders said on Thursday.

Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nong Duc Manh and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made the statements when meeting with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Hanoi capital.

Both Manh and Dung stated that Vietnam consistently supports China's great cause of the reunification, and China's handling of recent riots in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, to protect national stability.

Yang thanked Vietnam for supporting China on the issues of Taiwan and Tibet. The Chinese minister said he believed that the Olympic torch relay in Ho Chi Minh City would be a great success.

The friendly and cooperative ties between Vietnam and China, both of which have gained considerable achievements during their reform process and socialism construction, will be broadened and deepened in the future, the two top Vietnamese leaders stated.

Manh said the bilateral relations under the guidance of the principles of long-term stability, future orientation, good neighborly friendship and all-round cooperation should be brought to a new height, making their traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation everlasting.

Dung said Vietnam and China, sharing rivers and mountains and having culture and ideal similarities, should jointly foster economic and trade cooperation, and exchange in all spheres, bringing about prosperity and happiness to the two peoples.

Yang said China and Vietnam, which have had frequent and fine contact, exchange and cooperation at different levels, localities and sectors, including economy, trade, party construction and border issues, should further develop their ties under the guidance of the principles, for the basic benefits of the two countries, meeting the common aspirations of the two peoples.

Yang, who arrived in Hanoi on April 23, held talks with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem on regional and international issues of mutual concern on the same day.

(Xinhua News Agency April 25, 2008)