President Lula da Silva calls Vietnam important partner of Brazil

Hanoi (VNA) – Brazilian President Lula da Silva affirmed that Vietnam is an important partner of his country while receiving Vietnamese Ambassador Bui Van Nghi, who came to present his credentials in Brasilia on January 31.

Expressing his admiration for the achievements Vietnam have obtained over the past years, the host leader lauded the development of bilateral relations and asked the two countries to enhance cooperation in multiple spheres, including politics - diplomacy, economy - trade, agriculture, and science - technology.

He noted that bilateral trade has been growing strongly over the past years to approximate 7 billion USD in 2023, so the countries should further promote ties in this field.

The President added he hopes to pay a second visit to Vietnam in the near future, after the first in 2008.

For his part, Nghi voiced his honour to serve as Ambassador of Vietnam to Brazil, pledging to help foster the two countries’ comprehensive partnership in an increasingly substantive and effective manner in all the three pillars of party-to-party, state-to-state, and people-to-people diplomacy.

The ambassador emphasised that he will exert efforts to develop bilateral economic - trade - investment ties on par with the sound political relations, firstly implementing the commitments stated in the joint communiqué issued during Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s official visit to Brazil in September 2023.

He vowed to coordinate closely with the South American country to organise celebrations of the 35th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties (May 8, 1989 - 2024) and the 17th anniversary of the comprehensive partnership (May 2007 - 2024) this year.

At the meeting, Nghi also conveyed President Vo Van Thuong’s invitation to visit Vietnam to President Lula da Silva./.