Austrian President Heinz Fischer will pay an official visit to Vietnam
from May 29-31 to further promote the friendship and multifaceted
cooperation between the two countries.
As one of
the key events to mark the 40 th anniversary of Vietnam-Austria
diplomatic ties, the visit aims to strengthen understanding and trust in
politics and deepen cooperation in areas of priority such as education
and training, science and technology, and trade and investment.
During the visit, several trade agreements are expected to be signed between the two countries.
In 1972, Austria was one of the first Western countries that set up diplomatic ties with Vietnam .
Since then, the cooperation between the two countries has developed
continuously through the regular exchange of high-ranking visits,
including Austria visits by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai in April 1998,
Vice President Truong My Hoa in September 2005 and President Nguyen Minh
Triet in June 2008 as well as Vietnam visits by President Thomas
Klestil in March 1995, Prime Minister Wolfgang Schuessel in October 2004
and President of the Austrian Federal Council Sissy Roth-Halvax in May
2006.
In 2009, when Vietnam and Austria were
non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, the two countries
coordinated and supported each other in some issues of common concern,
especially in organising open discussions on “children in armed
conflicts” and “women, peace and security”.
In
recent years, two-way trade between Vietnam and Austria has seen
positive developments, reaching 107.9 million USD by February 2012, up
160 percent year on year.
Vietnam mainly exports footwear,
wooden products, garments, machinery and equipment to Austria while
importing pharmaceuticals, steel, paper, animal feed and raw materials
from the European country.
Austria now has 19
projects in Vietnam with a total investment of 50.8 million USD,
ranking 51 st among 94 countries and territories investing in Vietnam
.
Austria ’s official development assistance
(ODA) and preferential credits for Vietnam have been used to
implement projects in the fields of railway transport, medical
equipment, firefighting and vocational training.
Regarding educational cooperation, Austria annually provides about 20 post-graduate scholarships for Vietnam .
In addition, the Austrian Embassy in Hanoi provides German
language support with teaching and studying documents and equipment for
Hanoi-based universities.
Seven Vietnamese universities have signed cooperative agreements with their Austrian counterparts.
In 2008, Austria decided to provide scholarships worth 600,000
EUR for nearly 100 Vietnamese students to study in the country.
The two sides are also speeding up the signing of a bilateral cooperative agreement on science and technology.
Tourism cooperation between Vietnam and Austria has seen strong
developments. The Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO) and the
Austrian Embassy are coordinating with the Vietnamese side to organise
seminars and fairs to promote Vietnamese tourism in 2012.
Austria is currently home to more than 5,000 Vietnamese people.-VNA