President Tran Dai Quang pays state visit to Bangladesh

At the invitation of Bangladeshi President Mohammad Abdul Hamid, on March 4, 2018, President Tran Dai Quang and his wife, along with a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, began a State visit to the People's Republic of Bangladesh from March 4-6, 2018. This is President Tran Dai Quang's first visit to Bangladesh as President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

President Tran Dai Quang.

Vietnam and Bangladesh officially established diplomatic relations on February 11, 1973. Since then, the two sides have maintained a traditional friendship and good cooperation. Vietnam always attaches importance to and wishes to further develop the traditional friendship and good cooperation with Bangladesh. In particular, the two sides continue to strengthen the traditional friendship and multi-faceted cooperation, including high-level delegation exchanges. The most notable was the visit to Vietnam by National Assembly Chairwoman Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury (July 2017). On the Vietnamese side, Politburo member and Permanent Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Tong Thi Phong led the National Assembly delegation to attend the 136th IPU General Assembly in Dhaka (April 2017). Bangladesh has recently sent many delegations of officials to Vietnam, from the Department Head to Minister level, to promote cooperation and learn from experiences in administrative management, agriculture and rural development, tourism and climate change, including the delegation of the President of the Communist Party of Bangladesh visiting Vietnam (June 2017).

In recent years, economic relations between Vietnam and Bangladesh have seen many positive changes. Two-way trade turnover between the two countries has increased steadily over the years, from 14 million USD in 2002 to 388 million USD in 2012. In the period 2010-2014 alone, import-export turnover between the two countries increased more than 2.5 times, from 288 million USD to nearly 800 million USD. In 2015, trade between the two countries reached about 620 million USD, in 2016 it reached nearly 609 million USD. Of which, Vietnam is a country with a trade surplus. In 2017, two-way trade turnover reached more than 900 million USD. Vietnam's main export items are clinker and cement, rice, textile fibers and yarns of all kinds, textiles, textile raw materials, machinery... We import textile raw materials, footwear, pharmaceuticals and yarns of all kinds from you. The two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding on rice trade in 2011 and extended its validity for the second time until the end of 2022 (May 2017). The two countries are striving to achieve the target of 1 billion USD in bilateral trade turnover in the coming years.

Regarding investment, as of the end of December 2017, Bangladesh currently has 4 investment projects with a total registered capital of 615 thousand USD, ranking 99th out of 125 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. Vietnam has 1 investment project in Bangladesh with a total capital of nearly 28 thousand USD, Bangladesh ranks 68th out of 72 countries and territories that Vietnam has invested in.

The investment situation of Vietnamese enterprises in Bangladesh has many positive developments. The two sides have successfully coordinated to organize a meeting with Bangladeshi enterprises and inaugurated the Bangladesh-Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (March 30, 2017). The Ministry of Industry and Trade organized a delegation of nearly 20 Vietnamese enterprises to visit Bangladesh and attend the Investment and Trade Promotion Conference in Dhaka in August 2017.

Signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding on Rice Trade between the Government of Vietnam and the Government of Bangladesh in May 2017.

Regarding cooperation in the agricultural sector, the two sides have actively exchanged delegations at all levels to visit, study and share experiences in economic development policies, resettlement and migration, and aquaculture. Bangladesh is exploring cooperation opportunities in pearl farming in both saltwater and freshwater. In addition, cultural and educational cooperation activities between the two countries have also been actively promoted. Up to now, the National Academy of Public Administration of Vietnam in coordination with the Ministry of Public Administration and the Bangladesh Public Administration Training Center have organized a total of 16 training courses on public administration for nearly 500 Bangladeshi officials at all levels in Vietnam.

The similarities and achievements in the 45 years of establishing friendly and cooperative relations between Vietnam and Bangladesh are creating a solid foundation to further deepen mutual understanding and trust, as well as effective and multifaceted cooperation to bring the relationship between the two countries to a new height in the coming time. The State visit to Bangladesh by President Tran Dai Quang once again affirms Vietnam's foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralization and diversification of international relations, in which it always attaches importance to strengthening the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation with Bangladesh./.