Answer to correspondent by Mr. Le Dzung, the Spokesman of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 15th March 2005

Under an agreement at the 3rd Meeting of the Joint Viet Nam-Philippines Committee for Bilateral Cooperation held in Manila in February 2003, the Academy of Science and Technology of Viet Nam and Maritime and Ocean Affairs Center, Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, will host a joint oceanographic scientific expedition in the East Sea in early April 2005.

This will be the third joint expedition by Vietnamese and Philippine scientists. Previously, two similar expeditions were undertaken in April 1996 and May 2000.

Conducted to study marine plants, corals, fishes and invertebrates, these oceanographic scientific expeditions are in accordance with the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the ASEAN-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea.

Source: Press and Information Department - MOFA