Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Zbigniew Rau (left) writes in the guestbook. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam always attaches great importance to and wants to strengthen multifaceted cooperation with Poland, a traditional partner and friend of the Southeast Asian country in Europe, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son said during his talks with his Polish counterpart, Zbigniew Rau, in Hanoi on March 16.
Son highly evaluated Rau's visit, describing it as an important milestone in promoting the development of good traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Poland.
At the meeting, the two sides held that room remains huge to further strengthen their bilateral cooperation as well as measures to boost collaboration in potential fields in the future. They also agreed to promote the exchange of delegations, closely coordinate and support each other at multilateral and international forums, including the United Nations, Asia-Europe Meeting and ASEAN-EU.
The two sides highly appreciated that Poland is currently Vietnam's biggest trading partner in Central Eastern Europe and that Vietnam is Poland's fourth largest trading partner in Asia. Despite being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, economic and trade cooperation between the two countries has continued to maintain growth momentum in the past two years. Two-way trade turnover between the two countries reached a record level of over 2.5 billion USD in 2021 and 2022.
The two ministers also agreed to promote bilateral cooperation in the fields of education and training, agriculture, natural resources - environment, culture, tourism, health and information technology.
Son suggested the two sides work closely to make the best of opportunities from the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), expecting that Poland would create favourable conditions for Vietnam's agricultural and aquatic products and seasonal tropical fruits to expand their presence in the Polish market.
He also called on Polish businesses to invest in fields where Vietnam has demand and Poland has strength such as pharmaceuticals, animal husbandry, food processing and mining.
The Vietnamese minister suggested Poland soon ratify the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) and prompt the European Commission (EC) to remove its yellow card warning against Vietnamese seafood exports.
For his part, Rau expressed his impression of Vietnam's socio-economic development achievements in recent years and highly appreciated the increasingly important role and position of the Southeast Asian country in the region and in the world.
He said Poland always treasures and wishes to step up relations with Vietnam, a leading important partner of Poland in Southeast Asia.
The Polish diplomat evaluated Vietnam as one of the most potential markets of Poland in Southeast Asia and proposed Vietnam create favourable conditions for Polish products such as beef, poultry and blueberries to enter the Vietnamese market. He also expressed his wish that the two sides promote cooperation in the fields of information technology, smart city, green technology and environmental protection.
Son took this occasion to thank the Polish Government for creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community to integrate and live stably in Poland.
A memorandum of understanding between the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and the Polish Diplomatic Academy was signed on this occasion./.
