Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted a seminar in Hanoi on December 17 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Germany.
The event reviewed five decades of friendship and cooperation, while discussing orientations and solutions to further advance bilateral ties in the coming period.
In her opening remarks, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang underscored that relations between the two countries have grown increasingly solid, stable and substantive, with notable achievements across a wide range of fields, including politics and diplomacy, investment, development cooperation, education and training, labour, energy, and climate change response. These partnerships have contributed to each country’s development and to addressing shared challenges, she said.
She expressed confidence that bilateral relations would continue to be renewed, deepened and consolidated in the time to come.
German Ambassador to Vietnam Helga Margarete Barth affirmed that the two countries have steadily strengthened and deepened bilateral cooperation, with a milestone reached in 2011 when leaders of both sides established their Strategic Partnership.
The ambassador noted the need for closer coordination at multilateral forums in addressing regional and international issues of mutual concern, as well as in advancing initiatives proposed or supported by either side. With a strong foundation of political trust and increasingly intertwined interests, the two countries have ample scope to expand cooperation and make positive contributions to peace, stability and sustainable development in the region and the world.
More than 20 presentations and exchanges by policymakers, experts, scholars, business representatives, and organisations from both countries highlighted key achievements, shared practical cooperation experience, and put forward concrete solutions and initiatives to further strengthen and deepen the strategic partnership.
In her closing remarks, Hang stressed that trade, investment and economic cooperation would remain key pillars of bilateral relations and should be promoted in a stable, balanced and sustainable manner, with particular emphasis on the quality and effectiveness of joint projects. She added that the effective implementation of the EU–Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), together with the future entry into force of the EU–Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), would create additional opportunities for expanding collaboration.
She also underlined the importance of strengthening locality-to-locality and business-to-business connectivity as well as linking grassroots-level to central-level cooperation, in order to develop concrete programmes and projects delivering tangible benefits to both sides. In addition, priority should be given to joint work in research, science-technology, including joint studies, stronger linkages between institutes, universities and enterprises, and the promotion of technology transfer as a key requirement of mutually beneficial ties./.
