Vietnam, Germany hold 7th Vice Ministerial Strategic Dialogue
VOV.VN - Deputy Foreign Minister Le Thi Thu Hang and Secretary of State at the German Federal Foreign Office Andreas Michaelis co-chaired the seventh Vietnam-Germany Strategic Dialogue at a vice-ministerial level on April 3 in Berlin to discuss measures to boost co-operation between the two countries and other regional and international issues of shared concern.
During the course of the meeting, the two sides were elated to see that after more than 10 years of establishing their strategic partnership, the mutual relationship is developing effectively and comprehensively across a variety of fields, in line with the global development trend and both nations’ interests.
Deputy FM Hang affirmed that the country always attaches importance on the strategic partnership with Germany, a country that plays a key role in the EU, expressing gratitude to the German Government and people for donating over 10 million doses of vaccines and many important medical equipment. Indeed, these donations contributed to the Vietnamese success in the fight against COVID-19.
Secretary of State Michaelis hailed Vietnamese development achievements over recent times and highlighted the country as an important partner of Germany in the Indo-Pacific region.
In order to strengthen and deepen the strategic partnership moving forward, the two sides agreed to increase the exchange of delegations, especially high-level ones, regularly maintain bilateral co-operation mechanisms, and ramp up ties in areas where the two countries have strengths and needs. This includes focusing on trade - investment, development cooperation, climate change response, labour, education - training, and people-to-people exchanges.
Appreciating the positive results achieved in economic linkages, in which Germany has for many years retained its position as the nation’s largest trading partner in the EU with an annual average trade growth rate of over 10%, reaching more than US$12 billion in 2022, both sides consented to collaborate to effectively exploit the benefits brought by the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and further facilitate Vietnamese and German goods’ access to each other's markets.
As part of the occasion, FM Hang asked Germany to support the European Commission (EC) in order to soon remove the "yellow card" placed against Vietnamese seafood, while taking into account recent Vietnamese efforts in seriously and fully implement the EC recommendations on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
As a way of improving the efficiency of bilateral investment co-operation, Deputy FM Hang suggested that the German Foreign Ministry encourage German businesses to invest and expand production in the Vietnamese market in areas of Germany’s strengths. This can be done through focusing on the Vietnamese side’s development priorities, whilst at the same time promoting the German Parliament's ratification of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA).
Deputy FM Hang suggested that the German Government continue to support the country in priority areas such as environmental protection, energy and vocational training, in accordance line with the nation’s own sustainable development goals.
Sharing the assessments and proposals to strengthen bilateral ties put forward by Deputy FM Minister Hang, Secretary of State Michaelis stated that amid complicated developments in the world and region, as well as the shifting investment trends, the German Government wishes to support and incentivise businesses to diversify markets and partners, including Vietnam, a country with many advantages in terms of markets, labour resources, and investment environment.
On the basis of the effective co-operation achieved by the two sides, the German diplomat assured of the Central European nation’s readiness to assist Vietnam in accessing capital, technology, and human resource training within the framework of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) to implement the commitments made by Vietnam at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP26) on reducing emissions to zero by 2050.
Secretary of State Michaelis highly appreciated the potential for co-operation that exists between the two sides in the field of labour and vocational training. In the context the German Government currently carrying out many policies to attract skilled workers, the two sides can expand ties in this field, he added.
Welcoming the positive results in mutual ties at regional and multilateral forums, the two sides affirmed their desire to continue to closely co-ordinate and support each other in shared frameworks such as ASEAN, the EU, and international organisations, especially as the two countries are both members of the UN Human Rights Council for the 2023 to 2025 term.
In the exchange of regional and international issues of mutual concern, the two sides underscored the importance of maintaining peace, stability, and security, including maritime security in the region and the world. They support the settlement of disputes by peaceful means, in compliance with international law, especially the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982).
The two sides also compared notes on recent developments and situations occurring in regions around the world.
During the course of the Dialogue, the two sides approved the Vietnam - Germany Strategic Action Plan for the 2023 to 2025 period with orientations and co-operation activities in all fields, including politics - security. security, economy, climate - energy, science - technology, culture, and people-to-people exchanges.
Within the framework of her working visit to Germany, Deputy FM Hang had an exchange with German Presidential Advisor Wolfgang Silbermann, as well as holding a working session with the Vietnamese Embassy in Germany and other agencies.