German Chancellor’s Vietnam visit to open new chapter for friendship, cooperation

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will pay an official visit to Vietnam from November 13-14 at the invitation of Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

Vietnam and Germany established diplomatic relations on September 23, 1975. Since then, bilateral friendship and cooperation have developed effectively. For many years, Germany has been one of the most important partners of Vietnam in Europe.

Mutual trust and understanding between the two countries have been further strengthened through maintaining the exchange of high-level delegations and cooperation mechanisms.

During the visit to Vietnam by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in October 2011, the two sides signed the Hanoi Joint Statement on establishment of a strategic partnership, which set out objectives and measures to promote cooperation in priority areas.

Since the beginning of 2020, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two sides have held phone calls between senior leaders.

Besides delegation exchanges, the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) has established a high-level theoretical dialogue mechanism with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Left Party (LP) of Germany. So far, the CPV has organised six theoretical dialogues with the SPD and two others with the LP.

On March 31 this year, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong held phone talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to promote cooperation between the two countries as well as between the CPV and the SDP.

In recent years, trade and investment cooperation has been a highlight in the bilateral relationship. The two sides have signed many agreements to create a legal basis for economic cooperation such as the agreement on double taxation avoidance; the agreement on investment promotion and protection; and those on maritime and aviation.

Germany is now Vietnam's largest trading partner in Europe, accounting for nearly 20% of Vietnam’s exports to the European Union (EU). It is also an important transshipment gateway for Vietnamese goods to enter other markets in Europe. According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, two-way trade reached over 9.99 billion USD in 2020 and 11.22 billion USD in 2021.

According to data from the Federal Statistical Office of Germany, Vietnam has become Germany's leading trading partner in Southeast Asia and its sixth largest in Asia. Germany played an active role in the negotiation and ratification of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA).

Regarding investment, as of January 2022, Germany had 417 valid projects worth over 2.29 billion USD in Vietnam, ranking 4th in the EU and 17th out of 140 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese enterprises are operating 34 investment projects in Germany with total investment  of over 215 million USD.

In June 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany signed a Memorandum of Understanding on establishing a joint committee for economic cooperation between the two ministries, aiming to promote bilateral economic cooperation. 

Regarding development cooperation, Germany is one of the countries that regularly and frequently provide official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam. Since 1990, Germany has provided over 2 billion USD for ODA projects in Vietnam through technical and financial cooperation.

At government-level negotiations on Vietnam-Germany development cooperation held from July 20-23 last year, the German government committed over 143.5 million EUR (over 147.8 million USD) in ODA for Vietnam for 2022–2023.

In addition, the two countries have also paid special attention to promoting cooperation across other fields, including climate change adaptation, finance, culture, education-training, judicial cooperation, health, tourism and science-technology.

Germany is also one of the most important partners of Vietnam in vocational training. It has supported the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs in developing a national vocational training strategy, drafting the Law on Vocational Training as well as building model vocational schools.

Besides government-level relations, many German states and localities have established official relations with Vietnam or Vietnamese localities.

According to Vietnamese Ambassador to Germany Vu Quang Minh, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's visit to Vietnam is of great significance to relations between the two countries in the context that the two nation have implemented successfully the Strategic Partnership Agreement over the past decade, and enjoyed great achievements in economic and trade cooperation in the two years since the EVFTA took effect./.