Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The freshly concluded visit to Germany by Vietnam’s President Truong Tan Sang has opened up new prospects for the cooperation between the two countries.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh made the statement in a press interview, highlighting the significance and outcomes of the first State-level visit by a Vietnamese president to Germany since the two nations established diplomatic ties in 1975.
The visit from November 24 to 26 sought to intensify the strategic partnership between Vietnam and Germany, especially in trade-investment, science-technology and education-training, the Deputy PM said.
He noted that the President had busy schedules during their stay in Berlin. He held talks with German President Joachim Gauck and Chancellor Angela Merkel, greeted German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and German parliament’s Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group with ASEAN, and talked at the Koerber Institute.
The State leader later had a working session with Minister-President of the German State of Hessen Volker Bouffier and attended the Vietnam-Germany Business Forum.
“With such important events, the state visit by President Truong Tan Sang has wrapped up successfully, as it helps promote the Vietnam-Germany strategic partnership and spread out a new phrase of cooperation in strong fields,” Deputy PM Minh said.
Primarily, the visit has consolidated the political trust between top leaders of the two countries.
The German President and Chancellor reiterated that Germany wants to strengthen its strategic partnership with Vietnam across all fields and will help the ASEAN-member state enhance comprehensive cooperation with the EU, including the signing of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). The European country will continue to coordinate with Vietnam at regional and international forums, especially the UN, Asia-Europe (ASEM) Summit and ASEAN-EU.
Secondly, the visit has created a strong push to propel trade and investment relations forward – a key pillar in the countries’ strategic partnership.
Germany has been one of the top trade partners of Vietnam in the EU for years, comprising nearly 20 percent of the country’s exports to the union.
Vietnamese and German leaders agreed that the two countries have favourable environment and conditions to boost trade-investment cooperation twice or three times in anticipation of the signing of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).
They concurred to facilitate investment in the fields of their strength such as the processing industry, electronics, renewable energy, infrastructure, consumption products and agro-fisheries.
Thirdly, the visit enables the two countries to expand cooperation in education-training, science-technology and labour.
The leaders agreed to develop the Vietnam – Germany University into a leading research and training center in Vietnam, meeting international standards. They will also facilitate the teaching of German and Vietnamese in the respective countries, and study the construction of high-quality vocational training centers in Vietnam.
The visit demonstrates Vietnam’s proactive role and responsibilities in the international community.
German scholars said they appreciated President Truong Tan Sang’s speech at the Koerber Institute, which highlights Vietnam’s aspiration for a peaceful, stable, cooperative and developing Asia-Pacific region.
He confirmed that the maintenance of peace, stability, security and safety of navigation in the East Sea is the common concern and benefit of insiders and outsiders.
German leaders and experts expressed their concerns over the increasing reclamation of artificial islands in the East Sea and supported Vietnam’s viewpoint to address any disputes through peaceful means and in line with international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Declaration of Parties in the East Sea (DOC).
Another highlight of the visit was the meetings between President Truong Tan Sang, German friends and the Vietnamese community in Germany, which illustrates Vietnam’s national unity policy and the country’s sentiments toward German friends who have supported Vietnam.
Last but not least, during the visit, Vietnam and Germany signed six cooperative documents, including an agreement on allowing relatives of members of diplomatic representative agencies to hold paid jobs in the other country; a governmental agreement on science-technology cooperation; a protocol revising and supplementing terms of the 1994 aviation transport agreement; an MoU on forestry cooperation; an MoU on regular dialogues between the Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the German Business Association and the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Vietnam; and a technical service contract on maintaining A320 aircraft engines between Vietjet Air and Lufthansa Group.-VNA
