Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese Ambassador to Ireland Pham Toan Thang’s recent working visit to Cork highlighted efforts to strengthen institutional foundations and expand Vietnam-Ireland cooperation in trade, education, technology and people-to-people exchanges.
Cork, Ireland’s second-largest city, known as a dynamic economic centre, hosts major global corporations such as Apple, Pfizer, Qualcomm and Dell.
The visit came at a meaningful time as Vietnam and Ireland are celebrating the 30th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties this year, which will also mark the official operation of the Vietnamese Embassy in Ireland. The establishment of a resident embassy is expected to provide a stronger institutional framework for turning shared goodwill and strategic visions into practical cooperation.
Cork’s officials welcomed the opening of the embassy, describing it as an important motivation for promoting the bilateral ties.
Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork Margaret McDonnell highly valued Thang’s selection of Cork for his first working trip in his tenure, expressing support for proposals to expand cooperation between the two countries in economy, science - technology, education and research, culture, and people-to-people exchanges.
The Vietnamese diplomat spotlighted advantages Vietnam offers to international partners, including a domestic market of more than 100 million people, access to the ASEAN market of over 650 million consumers, and its participation in 19 free trade agreements with most major economies worldwide.
These strengths, together with Vietnam’s strength in agriculture and exports of agro-forestry-fishery products, were warmly welcomed by the Cork Chamber, which pledged to support business connectivity and promote partnership opportunities between enterprises from the two nations.
If the economy is the lifeblood, then education and science form the backbone of bilateral relations. University College Cork (UCC), one of the world’s leading universities, is renowned for its strengths in business, technology, medicine, sustainable development and food science, and is currently home to around 100 Vietnamese students. UCC has established cooperative ties with Vietnam National University, Hanoi and Vietnam National University of Agriculture under the Irish government’s official development assistance programme.
Thang expressed hope that academic cooperation will continue to expand into areas where Vietnam has growing demand, including high-tech agriculture, biomedical technology, artificial intelligence and computer science.
Meeting with Vietnamese intellectuals and students in Cork, the diplomat highlighted Vietnam’s strong push for science, technology, innovation and digital transformation under recent national development strategies. He reaffirmed the country’s long-term goal of becoming a developed, high-income nation by 2045, with science – technology and innovation serving as key growth drivers.
The visit also included meetings with Irish families who have adopted Vietnamese children. Thang acknowledged their efforts in preserving Vietnamese language and cultural traditions while helping the children maintain connections with their roots./.
VNA
