Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte meet each other on the sidelines of the 12th ASEM Summit in Brussels, Belgium, in October 2018 (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam and theNetherlands are expected to announce the elevation of bilateral ties to acomprehensive partnership during an official visit to Vietnam on April 9 byDutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
The information was revealed by VietnameseAmbassador to the Netherlands Ngo Thi Hoa during an interview with the VietnamNews Agency ahead of the trip, which will be PM Rutte’s second visit to theSoutheast Asian nation after his first in 2014.
She said the visit will be an important eventmarking a new stride in bilateral relations. It will be an occasion for the twocountries’ leaders to discuss measures for enhancing ties in politics-diplomacyand trade-investment and strengthening existing cooperation mechanisms,especially strategic partnerships on climate change adaptation – watermanagement and on sustainable agriculture – food security.
The tour also aims to expand ties in hightechnology, circular economy, transport, aviation, energy and smart citybuilding.
As part of this trip, many important events willbe held in Hanoi and other localities such as the seventh meeting of theVietnam-Netherlands Inter-Governmental Committee on Climate Change Adaptationand Water Management; discussions on the water, aviation, agriculture and energysectors; a business-to-business meeting; and the signing of business deals.
Ambassador Hoa said the Vietnam-Netherlandsfriendship has been developing well. They have maintained regular high-rankingdelegation exchanges and meetings. The latest visits to the European nation byPrime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in July 2017 and National Assembly ChairwomanNguyen Thi Kim Ngan in March 2018 created new momentum for ties.
Within multilateral frameworks, the twocountries have cooperated and supported each other’s initiatives, especially atthe United Nations, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and meetings between theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the European Union (EU).
The Netherlands has also supported Vietnam toenhance relations with the EU and shared the latter’s viewpoint on thesettlement of disputes in the East Sea by international law.
The diplomat noted the Netherlands has been animportant economic partner of Vietnam for years. Bilateral trade doubled from3.77 billion USD in 2014 to reach some 8 billion USD in 2018, making theNetherlands the biggest market of Vietnamese goods and the second biggest tradepartner of Vietnam in the EU. Meanwhile, it ranks first among EU nations and10th among the countries and territories investing in Vietnam, with more than300 projects worth 9.328 billion USD.
She said both countries face major challenges interms of climate change, water management and food security, which has promptedthem to become key partners in many areas. Many projects under the strategicpartnership on climate change adaptation and water management, set up in 2010,have been carried out effectively, especially the Mekong Delta Plan that hassuggested recommendations for water management and climate change adaptation issues.
Additionally, under the strategic partnership onsustainable agriculture and food security that was established in 2014, theNetherlands has become a big investor in Vietnam’s agriculture, helping thelatter promote sustainable agriculture and the value of agricultural exports,Hoa noted.
Regarding cooperation in education-training, thecountries have also reaped numerous successes, she said, elaborating that theyhave implemented many cooperation programmes between their universities and inpost high school education, granted scholarships and shared specialisedknowledge. There are more than 1,000 Vietnamese undergraduates andpostgraduates in the Netherlands at present. Besides this, ministries andsectors of the countries have also opened joint training programmes.
In terms of locality-to-locality ties, the twosides have established partnerships between Hanoi and Amsterdam, Ho Chi MinhCity and Rotterdam, Binh Duong province and Emmen and Eindhoven cities, VinhLong and Gelderlands provinces, and An Giang province and Oss city.
Relations between Vietnamese and Dutchlocalities are being fostered on the basis of their strengths, particularlyurban planning, environment, water management, industrial and urban wastetreatment, hi-tech agriculture development, smart city building, culture,education and tourism, Ambassador Hoa added.-VNA
VNA
