During an interview recently granted to Vietnam News Agencyin Canada, Devine said the upcoming visit by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucfrom June 8-10 to attend the Group of Seven (G7) Outreach Summit will open upnew prospects and reflect G7 countries’ appreciation for Vietnam in seekingmeasures for global issues.
According to him, education cooperation is one of thehighlights in Vietnam – Canada ties. Over the past three years, the number ofVietnamese students in Canada has soared 300 percent, amounting to 15,000 in2017. The North American country has strived to improve rating system, easefinancial pressure on students via the support of Scotia bank, and marketcurricula and learning environment.
He said Canadian universities and colleges offer more than10,000 different curricula. Canada has safe, open and multicultural livingenvironment that suits international students. Over the past years, it hasmoved up to the third place as a destination for Vietnamese students.
Devine said education holds the best cooperation potentialand there remains rooms to tap. Several Canadian universities now want toattract more Vietnamese students and consider bringing some curricula to theSoutheast Asian country.
Canada’s exports to Vietnam doubled annually to over 1billion CAD last year, especially farm produce and aquatic products. Meanwhile,Vietnam’s exports to Canada topped 5 billion CAD, the highest in ASEAN.
As members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreementfor Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the two nations are able to assist eachother in navigating regional and global markets, he said, adding that they havelaid a solid foundation for long-term economic cooperation and Canada couldhelp Vietnam in important fields such as environment, technology and climatechange response.
Thanks to the former diplomat’s advice, six Canadian firmsand Ottawa University sent six student groups to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City tolearn about investment environment, proving that they are keen to do businessin Vietnam on mutually-beneficial basis.
The two nations have supplementary values to extend tradewith the world, he said.
Canada also wants to help Vietnam deal with difficultiesregarding urban development, health care, clean water supply and environmentpollution, he said.
He added that Canada is striving to extend trade withVietnam in each sector with the hope that once the CPTPP takes effect,bilateral ties will further thrive. Low tariffs in CPTPP will make it easierfor the two nations to access markets in the bloc and boost manufacturing.
On the sidelines of the G7 Outreach Summit, PM Phuc willhave chances to meet other leaders, and discuss with Canadian PM JustineTrudeau about the future and prospects of Vietnam – Canada ties on the back ofthe bilateral comprehensive partnership as agreed by the two countries’ leadersduring Trudeau’s Vietnam visit to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting late last year.-VNA