Hanoi (VNA) — General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee and State President To Lam on June 18 received Vice President of the German Bundestag Bodo Ramelow, who is on an official visit to Vietnam.
Welcoming Ramelow back to Vietnam, the Vietnamese leader highly valued the outcomes of the German legislator’s meetings and working sessions during his stay, and thanked him for his personal contributions to bilateral ties and support for the Vietnamese community in Germany.
General Secretary and President Lam reaffirmed that Vietnam attaches great importance to its Strategic Partnership with Germany and regards it as one of its leading partners in Europe. He noted that the visit comes at a significant time, as the two countries just celebrated the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations (1975–2025) and are preparing to mark 15 years of their Strategic Partnership (2011–2026).
The top leader welcomed Germany’s recent ratification of the EU–Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), which demonstrates both sides’ determination to further strengthen their Strategic Partnership.
Highlighting Germany’s position as Europe’s largest economy and the world’s third-largest economy, alongside Vietnam’s emergence as one of the region’s most dynamic economies, he said the two countries share support for multilateralism, free trade and adherence to international law. These commonalities, he stressed, provide an important foundation for deepening cooperation and elevating bilateral relations to a higher level in the future, for the benefit of the people of both countries and for peace, stability, cooperation, and development in their respective regions and around the world.
The Party chief and State President outlined several priorities for future cooperation, including strengthening political trust through high-level exchanges across Party, State and parliamentary channels, and making full use of the EU–Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) to raise bilateral trade beyond 20 billion USD at an early date.
He also called for expanding practical and effective cooperation in science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, the green economy and the circular economy.
For his part, Ramelow congratulated Vietnam on its impressive socio-economic achievements, administrative reforms and growing international standing. He affirmed that Germany respects Vietnam’s political system and highly values its role and position in the region.
The German official expressed his country’s desire to further deepen substantive and effective cooperation with Vietnam, particularly in trade, investment, renewable energy, high-speed rail development and high-quality workforce training.
Sharing insights from his meetings with German businesses operating in Vietnam, Ramelow said the German business community highly appreciates Vietnam’s economic dynamism, investment environment and development potential. He expressed confidence that Vietnam will remain one of the most attractive destinations in the region for German investors.
He also highlighted the potential to combine Germany’s technological strengths and experience with Vietnam’s young and skilled workforce, while promoting cooperation in education, labour and vocational training towards a government-level agreement and locality-to-locality cooperation in these areas.
Both sides agreed on the importance of enhancing people-to-people and cultural exchanges and making full use of the over-200,000-strong Vietnamese community in Germany, as well as thousands of Vietnamese who have studied and worked there, to further strengthen the foundation of friendship and cooperation between the two countries./.
