With the foundation of bilateral diplomatic tiesin 1950, Romania was one of the first 10 countries to establish therelationship with Vietnam. Since then, their traditional friendship has continuallybeen reinforced.
The Vietnamese people have always kept in mindthe support from the people and Government of Romania during the struggle fornational independence and liberation in the past, as well as developmentefforts at present.
The two countries have actively supported eachother at multilateral forums like the United Nations, the InternationalOrganisation of the Francophonie, and the Asia-Europe Meeting. WhileRomania, which holds the rotating Presidency of the European Union (EU) in thefirst half of 2019, is hoped to be a bridge helping to enhance Vietnam’sconnections with EU members, Vietnam is set to make efforts to boost relationsbetween Romania and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Chargé d’affaires of the Romanian Embassy inVietnam Emil Ghitulescu said Vietnam is a traditional and important partner ofhis country in Southeast Asia.
The two sides are looking to increase tradepartnership; promote the signing of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA)to boost bilateral cooperation; step up export certification procedures forRomania’s animal-related products like beef, pork, poultry, animal food and beehoney to Vietnam; and develop locality-to-locality ties, he noted.
[PM sets Vietnam-Romania trade target at over 500 mln USD]
Since 1990, the countries have signed manydocuments, creating the legal framework for their cooperation in the newperiod.
Notably, they inked an agreement on economiccooperation in 2009. As a result, bilateral trade has risen continually inrecent years, reaching 217 million USD in 2017 and over 218 million USD in2018. The figure was estimated at 41.6 million USD in the first two months of2019.
Vietnam’s key exports to Romania include coffee,seafood, pepper, textile-garment, leather shoes, and computer components.Meanwhile, Romania’s main products shipped to Vietnam are chemicals,fertilisers, construction steel, plastic beads, oil and gas drilling equipment,and wood products.
Since 2010, Romania has been among the largemarkets of Vietnam’s aquatic products when it has imported around 12,000 tonnesof those items annually. As of the end of 2017, it had directly invested inthree projects worth 2.1 million USD in the Southeast Asian nation.
Vietnamese Ambassador to Romania Dang Tran Phongsaid the countries boast cooperation potential in multiple spheres, adding thatas the two economies are developing dynamically and the EU-Vietnam partnershipis growing, they have many favourable conditions to expand ties in trade,energy, agriculture, processing industry, information technology, science-technology,and environmental protection.
Additionally, the signing and implementation ofcooperation programmes on education-training, culture, and science-technique,along with people-to-people exchange have also been greatly helping withbilateral links.
Stronger relations between Vietnamese andRomanian localities have also been recorded as seen through cooperation dealsbetween Hanoi and Bucharest capitals, Da Nang and Timisoara cities, Lao Caiprovince and Hunedoara county, Iasi and Hue cities, and Ben Tre province andTulcea county.
The official trip by Prime Minister Nguyen XuanPhuc at the invitation of his counterpart Viorica Dancila will continueaffirming Vietnam’s consistent foreign policy of treasuring and fostering thetraditional friendship and cooperation in a more result-oriented manner for thesake of each nation.-VNA