Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s trip to Germany and the Netherlands, from July 5-11, was a success with numerous deals between Vietnam and the two countries signed, said a Vietnamese Foreign Ministry official. 

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc at a working session of the G20 Summit

Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son said this was Phuc’s first trip to Western Europe in his capacity as the Vietnamese Government leader. He was accompanied by representatives of more than 100 businesses. 

During the visits, leaders of both Germany and the Netherlands affirmed Vietnam as an important partner in ASEAN and spoke highly of the role played by the country in the ten-member group, he said. 

They agreed to enhance the exchange of delegations to intensify mutual trust, the official added. 

According to Son, the main focus of PM Phuc’s trip was to foster economic, trade and investment ties with the two countries.

All proposals raised by Vietnam to expand trade and investment cooperation as well as affiliation in science-technology, education-training and national defene and security received positive responses from Germany and the Netherlands. 

German and Dutch businesses also showed interest in partnering with Vietnamese firms and wanted to take advantage of this opportunity for collaboration. 

In this spirit, forums, round-table seminars and exchange programmes connecting Vietnamese enterprises with those from Germany and the Netherlands were held during the trip, Deputy Minister Son said. 

Addressing  about 1,000 German and Dutch businesses, PM Phuc said that Vietnam is making all-out efforts to build a facilitating Government that serves the people and businesses. 

On this occasion, 36 cooperation documents worth 4 billion EUR were signed by Vietnamese enterprises and their German partners, focusing on aviation, personnel training in health care, agriculture, food industry and renewable energy, among others, Son said.  

Meanwhile, he added, Vietnamese and Dutch enterprises agreed to work together in natural disaster response and mitigation, infrastructure construction, navigation and inland waterways, shipbuilding and cattle-feed processing. 

Germany and the Netherlands were also interested in cooperating with Vietnam in culture, education-training, labour, climate mate response, water management, high-tech agriculture, seaport tourism and logistics services. 

Regarding PM Phuc’s attendance of the G20 Summit as the host of APEC 2017, Deputy Minister Son said Vietnam’s presence at the event reflects its advanced position in the regional and international arenas. 

Vietnam contributed opinions in most major meetings of the summit, he said, noting that many recommendations raised by the country relating to international cooperation, regional and international efforts in handling global economic issues, sustainable development, sustainable use of water resources and human resources development in the context of the fourth industrial revolution were mentioned in the summit’s joint statement. 

Vietnam also worked to promote common interests and concerns of developing countries while discussing matters like international trade-investment, climate change combat and global economic administration, Son said.

VNA