PM’s Romania visit to open up new chapter for bilateral ties: Romanian Ambassador

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R) and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis at the UN Headquarters in New York. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - The official visit to Romania by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is expected to open up a new, substantive and intensive chapter for the long-standing diplomatic ties between the two countries, Romanian Ambassador to Vietnam Cristina Romila has said. 

The PM, his spouse and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation left Hanoi on January 16 for his attendance at the 54th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF-54) in Davos, Switzerland and official visits to Hungary and Romania from January 16-23.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA), Romila spoke of prospects of the Vietnam-Romania relations.

Romanian Ambassador to Vietnam Cristina Romila. (Photo: VietnamPlus)

New milestones in bilateral ties

Reporter: Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will pay an official visit to Romania at the invitation of his Romanian counterpart Ion-Marcel Ciolacu. How do you evaluate the significance of the visit?

Ambassador Cristina Romila: The visit will take further the dialogue at the Prime-Minister level between Romania and Vietnam. The most recent contacts at this level took place in 2016 (the official visit to Vietnam by the Prime Minister of Romania) and 2019 (the official visit to Romania by the Prime Minister of Vietnam).

The visit also has sound symbolism, highlighting the strong people-to-people bonds that shaped the 74 years of the bilateral relations.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his spouse. (Photo: VNA)

And I do think that his visit can bring the added value to the positive developments that we have registered in the bilateral dialogue in recent years, such as increasing the dynamics of the high level bilateral contacts as well as in the field of the economic cooperation.

The visit has the potential to be a milestone for the sectorial cooperation, providing a deeper understanding of each other’s priorities and interests.

The visit also holds special significance for both our countries because the Prime Minister graduated his university studies in Romania and he also began his professional career in the Vietnamese Embassy in Romania. So we are most grateful and we highly value his official visit to Romania.

Reporter: Would you highlight some outstanding achievements in the Vietnam-Romania relations over the past years? 

Ambassador Cristina Romila: I think the last five years profoundly reconfirmed the traditional friendship between our countries, through a renewed dynamics of the high level contacts and the excellent cooperation in addressing major challenges that affect our time, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or the joint efforts for the evacuation of over 1,000 Vietnamese citizens from the war in Ukraine.  

The people-to people contacts have also achieved major positive developments following the COVID-19 pandemic, stimulating the cultural, academic and business contacts. Representatives of more than 30 Romanian universities visited Vietnam in the last two years and the famous Bucharest Symphony orchestra performed in Vietnam in 2022 and 2023 at the Hanoi Opera House and in Da Lat city, the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.

Several economic missions visited Vietnam in the last year, exploring new venues to deepen and diversify the bilateral economic cooperation.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hosts Romanian Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism Stefan-Radu Oprea last year. (Photo: VNA)

Cooperation in new areas

Reporter: With the achievements, what do you expect for development cooperation between the two countries in the time ahead?

Ambassador Cristina Romila: First of all we would like to underline excellent results achieved during the 17th session of the Vietnam-Romania Joint Committee on Economic Cooperation that took place in Hanoi last November at the minister level.

Important cooperation mechanisms were agreed in the fields of mutual interest such as commerce, agriculture, fito-sanitary, energy, labour, science, technology, and culture.

Romania can be a gateway for Vietnamese goods to enter Europe in the same manner Vietnam for Romania to enter ASEAN market.

We need to make effective use of the EVFTA to open up each other's markets and attract investments in sectors of mutual interest.

The tradition nature of our bilateral relations, the strong friendship between our countries and the extraordinary potential of our bilateral agenda set favourable conditions for an ambitious approach of the future.

Reporter: What are priorities in your tenure to enhance the relations between the two countries?

Ambassador Cristina Romila: Providing a new dimension for the high level political-diplomatic contacts, diversifying the economic exchanges, increasing the people-to-people contacts, building new bridges through culture cooperation, intensifying the academic exchanges are some of the most important priorities of my tenure in Vietnam.

Reporter: Thank you very much!