Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet said on Friday before concluding his China visit that border issues will never pose an obstacle to overall Vietnam-China relations.

"We have reached consensus with the Chinese side on many aspects of the border issues, and we have agreed to maintain dialogue and consultation in order to seek full solutions to the issues," Triet told Chinese reporters in a group interview, but gave no further details about the solutions.

China and Vietnam signed a historic land boundary treaty in 1999 after about two decades' negotiation.

The treaty, which took effect in 2000, defined the border orientation between the two countries. Since then the two sides have been preparing a survey and getting ready to pose border markers.

During a visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao to Vietnam last year, the two countries issued a joint statement, agreeing to speed up the process of land border demarcation and work closely to ensure that the work is finished and a new border administration document signed by 2008 on schedule.

There is a long-standing tradition of friendship between the two parties, governments and peoples and this is a "significant" foundation for the two countries to work from, Triet said.

It is Triet's first official visit to China since he took office in June 2006.

During his meeting with President Hu Jintao on Wednesday, Triet said that Vietnam is keen to develop relations between the border provinces, so as to create peace, friendship and common development in the frontier area.

As a member of the the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Vietnam can serve as a bridge for promoting relations between China and the ASEAN, Triet said, adding that the Vietnamese government is "happy to see the development of China-ASEAN ties".

Triet returned to Vietnam Friday afternoon after a four-day visit.

Source: Xinhua