Romanian Foreign Minister Cristian Diaconescu announced this in an interview with the Vietnam News Agency prior to Mr Khiem’s visit to the country.

He confirmed that both countries have great potential for developing cooperative ties, and this has not yet been fully exploited. He pointed out that there has been a slight fall in economic ties between Romania and its partners, including Vietnam, due to its priority policy on regional integration and the impact of the market economic mechanism. However, cooperation in petroleum has grown and flourished, with new and mutually beneficial ways of working together initiated between Romania’s Petrovietrom and the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PVN) as well as between Petroconsult and the Vietnam Petroleum Institute.

“I hope that bilateral cooperation will expand to other areas,” said the Romanian FM.  

He added that the Vietnam-Romania inter-governmental committee for economic cooperation will convene very soon, during which both sides are expected to put forward new initiatives for stronger links in economics and investment.

According to the FM, in the near future, Romania and Vietnam will negotiate and sign other agreements besides the economic deal, in line with Romania’s admission to the European Union and at request of the European community.