In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency on the occasion of the two nations celebrating the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relations, Chien recommended the sides effectively implement existing bilateral agreements and cooperation mechanisms, particularly the Joint Committee on economic, culture and science-technology cooperation and the Joint Sub-committee on Trade, while building new ones suitable to their new development contexts.
Chien said the countries uphold the role of multilateralism in creating and maintaining a peaceful and stable environment regionally and globally serving cooperation and development. Bearing the brunt of climate change, they show similar approaches to such global issues as climate change response as well as food and energy security, he added.
The two have been closely coordinating at many multilateral forums and continue to support each other in the international arena, the diplomat said, unveiling that their 50th anniversary celebration will take place throughout 2023 with diverse activities.
The traditional friendship between the countries has been continuously consolidated, developed and deepened across all channels of the party, state, parliament and people-to-people exchange. Many bilateral agreements have been signed and a range of cooperation mechanisms formed in different fields like trade, industry, agriculture, fishery, animal husbandry, and science-technology.
Bangladesh is currently Vietnam's second largest trading partner in South Asia. Trade between the countries nearly quadrupled within a decade from about 350 million USD in 2012 to about 1.47 billion USD in 2022, aiming for 2 billion USD set by the senior leaders of the two countries in 2018.
