Ambassador: Deputy PM’s visit to Spain holds important significance
Madrid (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang’s
visit to Spain from March 1-3 holds important significance, contributing to realising
Vietnam’s foreign policy of independence, self-reliance for peace, friendship,
cooperation and development, multilateralisation and diversification of
external ties, according to Ambassador to Spain Hoang Xuan Hai.
In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency, Hai said
it is the highest-level visit to Spain by a Vietnamese Government leader since
2017 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the visit, both sides will review bilateral relationship
over the past years and reach consensus on specific measures to tackle
obstacles as well as discuss new cooperation mechanisms in priority areas such
as basic infrastructure, green energy, climate change response and water
resource management, toward carrying forward bilateral strategic partnership in
the near future, he said.
According to him, friendly cooperation between Vietnam and
Spain has kept improving over the past 46 years. Spain was the first European
Union country to establish strategic partnership with Vietnam in December 2009.
Vietnam has become the biggest ASEAN trade partner of Spain with over 3 billion
USD on average each year. Last year alone, Vietnam’s exports to Spain surpassed
4 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 worth
over 143 million USD.
The ambassador expressed his hope that with the validity of the EU-Vietnam
Free Trade Agreement and the approval of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection
Agreement in late January 2022, the two countries’ firms will tap benefits
brought about by the two deals to turn economic ties into a solid pillar in
their relationship.
In his view, the two governments, ministries and
agencies should consider amending or signing new agreements to create a legal
framework for bilateral ties, particularly in the fields of their strength such as
infrastructure, 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 and
launch several important cooperation mechanisms such as deputy ministerial-level political consultations and the first meeting of the Bilateral Cooperation
Committee for Trade and Investment, thus reaching consensus on measures and roadmaps to
lift bilateral ties, he said./.