Vietnam has important role to play in Argentina’s external relations: official hinh anh 1Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship Jorge Faurie (R) at an interview with the Vietnam News Agency on the occasion of the upcoming visit of President Maurico Macri to Vietnam (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The upcoming visit of President Maurico Macri to Vietnam is significant to Argentina due to the important role of the Southeast Asian country in the current overall international relations of Argentina, Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship Jorge Faurie has stated.

In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency on the threshold of the visit, the minister also stressed that Vietnam is an important partner of Argentina, especially in economy and trade.

The Vietnamese economy is supplementary to that of Argentina, he said, noting that the two countries have shared sound trade ties with high growth prospect, which reflects Vietnam’s progress, especially in the recent decade.

Vietnam has become an example for Argentina, especially in export policy, one of the factors encouraging Argentine businesses to engage actively in producing and exporting their products, he said.

Vietnam and Argentina recently celebrated the 45th anniversary of their bilateral diplomatic relations, bringing a suitable time for the important visit, said the minister. Meanwhile, in the recent meetings with President Maurico Macri at international forums, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc showed his hope to welcome the Argentine leader in Vietnam.

President Maurico Macri will pay a State visit to Vietnam from February 19-21, his first to the Southeast Asian country as a President. The leader once visited Vietnam as the Mayor of Buenos Aires.

The Argentine official further said that several months ago, at a meeting with him during his visit to Vietnam, the host Prime Minister expressed his hope to develop partnership with Argentina, underscoring that the two sides should bolster economic and trade cooperation to bring two-way trade from the current nearly 3 billion USD to 5 billion USD in 2020 or 2021, and nearly 10 billion USD in 2025.

To this end, the two sides should create favourable conditions for businesses of both sides to foster connection.

Therefore, in his visit, the Argentine leader will bring local enterprises in many strong sectors of Argentina, so that they can meet Vietnamese peers to seek partnership.

“We have defined what areas that the two sides can team up, as well as products to focus on. But businesses and producers of the two sides should further foster their connection,” stated the diplomat.

With the current technology development, geographical distance is no longer an obstacle for Vietnam and Argentina to foster connectivity, he added.

Regarding his impression of Vietnam, Faurie said that he first visited Vietnam in 1996, and came back after 22 years. The changes of Hanoi as well as progress in production and the new mindset of locals surprised the official.

“I felt great changes of Hanoi and other big cities of Vietnam. The living conditions of Vietnamese people have significantly improved compared to two decades ago. The quality of products made by Vietnamese people has been different from the past, and especially, the future-oriented mindset of Vietnamese Government and people is admirable,” he said.

He stressed that Vietnam has shown the world its strong capacity to rise, which is really admirable.-VNA
VNA