VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam and Germany need to make a greater effort to fully tap their development potential to bolster bilateral cooperation.

The agreement was reached at a meeting in Brussels on July 23 between Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister-Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and Germany Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier.

Steinmeier suggested an increase in delegation exchange and said Germany is looking forward to receiving Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung during his upcoming visit to Berlin later this year.

He expressed his belief that Dung’s visit, slated for October 2014, will help deepen the strategic partnership between Germany and Vietnam, especially in economics, trade and investment.

He said Germany appreciates Vietnam’s thorough preparations for the 2014 Asia-Pacific Conference of German businesses (APK) to be held in Ho Chi Minh City on November 21-22 which aims to facilitate trade and investment between Germany and Pacific Rim countries, and with Vietnam in particular.

Both diplomats agreed to speed up key Germany-funded projects in Vietnam, including the German House, the metro route No2 and the Vietnam-Germany University in HCM City.

They also pledged to work closely to organise events to celebrate 40 years of diplomacy between the two countries in 2015.

Deputy PM Minh is in Brussels for the 20th ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting (AEMM). After the meeting, he will pay visits to France, the Czech Republic of Poland.

VOV/VNN