Irish official development assistance (ODA) will support Vietnam to reduce poverty, develop human resources, help disabled people, and implement its sustainable development goals.

The two ministers were heartened by the strengthening bilateral relations and co-operation (Photo: VGP)

On November 24, at the meeting with Pham Binh Minh, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Irish Minister for Education and Skills Richard Bruton announced the bilateral co-operation strategy for 2017-2020, setting priority on the fields of politics-diplomacy, development co-operation, trade and investment, education-training, and people-to-people exchanges.

Minister Bruton said he was imbressed by Vietnam’s socioeconomic development and international integration achievements and informed that the Irish government committed to provide ODA worth EUR7.5 million ($8.9 million) per year for Vietnam during the 2017-2020 period.

During the visit of the Irish Minister, many agreements and arrangements on co-operation between the two sides have been signed and he highly appreciated co-operation programmes, connectivity between universities, training and researching facilities of the two countries.

DPM Minh thanked the Irish government and suggested them to consider increasing scholarships for Vietnamese students, supporting English teaching, and sharing experiences in education quality accreditation.

He also asked the Irish Ministry for Education and Skills to coordinate with Vietnamese ministries, branches, localities, and businesses to deploy projects in potential fields like high-tech agriculture, aviation, wind energy, and information communication technology.

In recent years, the two countries' two-way trade turnover has been on a strong rise, reaching $1.14 billion in 2016 and $1.1 billion in the first nine months of this year.

VIR