Prime Minister leaves for working visit in Europe and North Africa

Today (May 29), Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and the Vietnamese delegation left for Kazakhstan to attend the official signing ceremony of the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union, and to pay official visits to Algeria, Portugal and Bulgaria from May 29 to June 6, 2015.

The Prime Minister's visit and working visit was made at the invitation of Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov, Prime Minister of the Democratic and People's Republic of Algeria Abdelmalek Sellal, Prime Minister of the Republic of Portugal Pedro Passos Coelho and Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria Boyko Metodiev Borisov.

Vietnam and the Customs Union (including Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan) launched negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement on March 28, 2013. On December 15, 2014, in Vietnam, the two sides signed the Basic Declaration concluding negotiations on the Agreement.

From January 1, 2015, the Customs Union was transformed into the Eurasian Economic Union (including Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan). To date, after 8 official negotiation sessions and many mid-term meetings, negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union have officially ended.

The signing of the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union with the participation of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will create an open and stable legal framework for developing economic relations between Vietnam and the member countries of the Union; thereby strengthening bilateral relations and exchanging measures to specifically implement the Agreement between Vietnam and these countries.

* Regarding Vietnam-Algeria relations, the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1962. In recent times, the traditional friendship between Vietnam and Algeria has had positive developments. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, bilateral trade turnover between the two countries in 2014 reached nearly 250 million USD, of which Vietnam had a trade surplus of nearly 100%.

Vietnam’s main export items to Algeria are coffee, rice, phones of all kinds, components, etc. In the first quarter of 2015, Vietnam’s export turnover to Algeria reached nearly 70 million USD. Currently, Algeria is Vietnam’s third largest export market in Africa.

Regarding investment, PetroVietnam is currently implementing an oil exploration and exploitation project in Algeria; it is expected to be commercially exploited in June 2015. In terms of labor cooperation, there are currently about 1,200 Vietnamese construction workers working for contractors from third countries (Japan, China, etc.) in Algeria.

The two countries have also signed many important agreements and treaties, including: Agreement on economic-scientific and technical cooperation; Trade agreement; Agreement on cooperation in the field of culture and information; Agreement on investment promotion and protection; Agreement on mutual legal assistance in trade and civil matters; Agreement on plant protection and quarantine; Agreement on medical cooperation; Agreement on cooperation in the field of trade promotion; Agreement on cooperation between the two Chambers of Commerce and Industry, etc.

* Bulgaria is one of the first 10 countries in the world to recognize and establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam (in 1950). Bulgaria has given Vietnam valuable support and assistance, especially during the years when Vietnam fought for national liberation and reunification.

Over the past time, the relationship between the two countries has continued to develop very well; the two sides regularly exchange delegations at all levels; closely coordinate and support each other in multilateral forums.

In March 2001, the two sides signed a new economic-trade agreement, granting each other most-favored-nation status. In 2014, the two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Bulgaria reached nearly 90 million USD. Vietnam exported to Bulgaria traditional products such as textiles, leather shoes, coffee, pepper, tobacco, seafood, etc. and imported from Bulgaria products such as chemicals, machinery, wheat, wine, pharmaceuticals, etc. Regarding investment, by December 2014, Bulgaria had 10 direct investment projects in effect in Vietnam with a total registered capital of over 31 million USD.

In addition, cooperation activities in education-training, culture, tourism, science-technology; security-defense, labor, etc. between Vietnam and Bulgaria have also achieved positive results in recent times.

In Bulgaria, there are currently more than 1,000 Vietnamese people living, of which nearly half have acquired Bulgarian citizenship, the majority of the rest have 5-year or 1-year residence permits. Most of them have relatively stable lives, mainly trading in garments, handicrafts or agricultural products.

* Portugal and Vietnam established diplomatic relations in 1975. The two sides regularly maintain delegation exchanges at all levels and always support each other at multilateral forums, especially at the United Nations.

In recent times, although the two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Portugal is still modest, it has grown steadily over the years. In 2008, the two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Portugal was only about 90 million USD, but by 2014, this figure had increased to nearly 370 million USD. Vietnam's main export items to Portugal are coffee, seafood, wooden furniture, footwear, etc.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s official visits to Algeria, Portugal and Bulgaria demonstrate Vietnam’s comprehensive cooperation policy with Europe and the EU, as well as its emphasis on cooperation with Africa. The visit aims to exchange with the countries on each country’s socio-economic situation, experiences in sustainable development, economic transformation, international economic integration and response to global economic fluctuations.

The visit also aims to promote new cooperation frameworks; attract businesses from developing countries to do business and invest with Vietnam, and exchange measures to promote bilateral cooperation between Vietnam and these countries to be more effective and sustainable in all aspects.

According to Chinhphu.vn