Illustrative image (Photo: vneconomy.vn) Madrid (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang’svisit to Spain from March 1-3 holds important significance, contributing to realisingVietnam’s foreign policy of independence, self-reliance for peace, friendship,cooperation and development, multilateralisation and diversification ofexternal ties, according to Ambassador to Spain Hoang Xuan Hai.
In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency, Hai saidit is the highest-level visit to Spain by a Vietnamese Government leader since2017 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the visit, both sides will review bilateral relationshipover the past years and reach consensus on specific measures to tackleobstacles as well as discuss new cooperation mechanisms in priority areas suchas basic infrastructure, green energy, climate change response and waterresource management, toward carrying forward bilateral strategic partnership inthe near future, he said.
According to him, friendly cooperation between Vietnam andSpain has kept improving over the past 46 years. Spain was the first EuropeanUnion country to establish strategic partnership with Vietnam in December 2009.Vietnam has become the biggest ASEAN trade partner of Spain with over 3 billionUSD on average each year. Last year alone, Vietnam’s exports to Spain surpassed4 billion EUR (4.2 billion USD) while importing more than 525 million EUR from the European country.However, Spain’s investment in Vietnam remains modest, with 88 projects worthover 143 million USD.
The ambassador expressed his hope that with the validity of the EU-VietnamFree Trade Agreement and the approval of the EU-Vietnam Investment ProtectionAgreement in late January 2022, the two countries’ firms will tap benefitsbrought about by the two deals to turn economic ties into a solid pillar intheir relationship.
Vietnamese Ambassador to Spain Hoang Xuan Hai (Photo: Vietnamese Embassy in Spain)
In his view, the two governments, ministries andagencies should consider amending or signing new agreements to create a legalframework for bilateral ties, particularly in the fields of their strength such asinfrastructure, renewable energy, digital transformation, green technology,climate change response, hi-tech agriculture, health care, education-training,culture, sports and tourism.
In the immediate future, both sides should soon resume andlaunch several important cooperation mechanisms such as deputy ministerial-level political consultations and the first meeting of the Bilateral CooperationCommittee for Trade and Investment, thus reaching consensus on measures and roadmaps tolift bilateral ties, he said./.
