Imprint in Vietnam’s relations with European partners

This year’s WEF Annual Meeting is the largest meeting since the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 2,600 delegates, including leaders of nearly 70 countries and international organisations, indicating higher attendance than the pre-pandemic period.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s attendance at Davos 2024 provides an important opportunity to introduce Vietnam’s recent dynamic and positive achievements to the international community.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s official visit to Hungary is the first delegation exchange at the Prime Ministerial level between the two countries in the past seven years, aiming to further deepen the Vietnam-Hungary comprehensive partnership.

For Romania, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s visit is the first delegation exchange at the Prime Ministerial level in the past five years, expected to drive bilateral cooperation in areas of Romania’s strengths that suit Vietnam’s development needs.

Advancing cooperation in a fractured world

As a not-for-profit organisation for public-private cooperation, the WEF was founded by Professor Klaus Schwab in 1971 in Geneva, Switzerland. The WEF currently has about 700 partners, who are leaders of the world’s leading corporations in various fields. The WEF is also one of the first forums to discuss the Fourth Industrial Revolution and is implementing several specific initiatives concerning this issue.

The most important event of the WEF is its annual meeting held every January in Davos, Switzerland. There are also regional forums, such as the WEF Annual Meeting of the New Champions, which is held annually in China, alternating between the two port cities of Tianjin and Dalian; and the WEF on ASEAN. WEF-hosted events attract the participation of politicians, businesses, and those from the culture, society, and research world to shape agendas at regional and global levels.

Themed ‘Rebuilding Trust’, the 54th WEF Davos Conference is being held from January 15 to 19, 2024, in Davos, Switzerland. The conference focuses on four key areas, including (i) Achieving security and cooperation in a fractured world, (ii) Creating growth and jobs for a new era, (iii) A long-term strategy for climate, nature, and energy, and (iv) Artificial Intelligence as a driving force for the economy and society.

Vietnam - WEF relations are on a good track for development

Since Vietnam and WEF established relations in 1989, their cooperation has been promoted and developed in various spheres. Vietnam has attended the WEF meetings at the Prime Ministerial level four times and attended the WEF meetings on ASEAN at the Prime Ministerial level four times. 

Leaders of the two sides have also promoted high-level contact and exchange activities, especially between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab, at their meetings within the framework of the 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions of the WEF in Tianjin, China in June 2023; the 41st ASEAN Summit in November 2022, and the 43rd ASEAN Summit in September 2023.

Vietnam and WEF have coordinated to organise many important conferences. The first WEF's Country Strategic Dialogue on Vietnam was held in October 2021 in both in-person and online format under the theme ‘Public Private Partnership - The Key Driver for Comprehensive Recovery and Sustainable, Resilient and Innovative Growth’. It was evaluated as the most successful dialogue that it had held in coordination with a country in all aspects.

At the 2023 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Tianjin, China, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh co-chaired the 2nd Vietnam-WEF Country Strategic Dialogue (June 2023) with the theme “Promoting new growth drivers to create the future of the country”.

On June 26, 2023, at the WEF Tianjin meeting, Vietnam and the WEF signed a memorandum of understanding on Vietnam-WEF cooperation in the 2023-2026 period under the witness of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Professor Klaus Schwab, which provides an important foundation to promote cooperation between the two sides.

Vietnam’s active participation in WEF conferences, as well as its coordination in successfully organising a number of WEF events, contributes to helping the country boost investment attraction, promote its image, as well as strengthen relations with global corporations.

As a member of many regional and international organisations, Hungary has a foreign policy that gives high priority to comprehensive integration and engagement with the EU. At the same time, it is deploying the Eastward policy, promoting relations with Asia, especially with China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

Vietnam and Hungary established diplomatic relations on February 3, 1950. Hungary has shared good sentiment, support, and valuable assistance to Vietnam during the struggle for national liberation and unification in the past as well as the current cause of national construction and development. The upgrade of the two countries’ relationship to a comprehensive partnership during Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit to Hungary in 2018 demonstrates the determination of the leaders of both sides to foster the bilateral relations.

Regarding economic and trade cooperation, the Vietnam-Hungary Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation has played a solid role in promoting bilateral cooperation. The Committee’s first session took place in Budapest in December 2005. In Southeast Asia, Vietnam is the only country exporting goods to Hungary with large outputs, reaching nearly 1 billion USD in 2020. This shows that the Hungarian market has good potential with many development opportunities. Vietnam’s main export products are textiles, footwear, computers, electronic products and components, means of transport and spare parts.

Up to now, Hungary has 15 valid FDI projects in Vietnam, with a total registered capital of 50.66 million USD, ranking 55th among countries and territories with direct investment in Vietnam.

In terms of investment, among Hungary’s 15 projects, there are three in the manufacturing and processing sector, with a total investment capital of 41.82 million USD. Ranked second is the communications field, with three projects worth 5.87 million USD. The real estate business ranked third, with one project worth 2 million USD.

Regarding development cooperation, since 2003, Hungary has put Vietnam on the priority list for receiving official development assistance (ODA). Hungary is the largest source of ODA for Vietnam in Central Eastern Europe. In 2009, Hungary committed 60 million EUR in preferential credit for constructing Can Tho City Oncology Hospital, with a scale of 500 beds. In January 2016, the two sides signed a financial cooperation agreement worth 60 million EUR for constructing Can Tho City Oncology Hospital. In January 2017, the two sides signed a Framework Agreement on Credit Cooperation worth 440 million EUR between the Governments of Vietnam and Hungary.

During the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hungary was one of the first countries to support Vietnam with more than 200,000 doses of vaccines and medical equipment, as well as ceding more than 400,000 doses of vaccines, contributing to helping Vietnam quickly overcome the pandemic.

Education and training are a long-standing cooperation field between Vietnam and Hungary. In the past, Hungary helped Vietnam train thousands of experts and engineers. Currently, Hungary grants the most scholarships to Vietnam among EU countries.

The Vietnamese community in Hungary currently has about 6,000 people, living mainly in Budapest, with a relatively stable life, and the image of Vietnamese people in the country is quite good. People are always united and look towards the Fatherland.

In the context of well-developed relations between the two countries, the official visit to Hungary by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his wife has important significance to further deepen the Vietnam-Hungary Comprehensive Partnership, especially in economics, education training, and pharmaceutical technology. In the context of Hungary assuming the rotating Presidency of the EU Council in the last six months of 2024, the visit is an opportunity for Vietnam to strengthen coordination with the EU on regional and global issues, especially promoting ratification of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA).

In its foreign policy, Romania has prioritised enhancing its position and role in the EU and NATO, strengthening the strategic alliance with the US, and advocated promoting relations with the Asia-Pacific region and Vietnam as one of the top priorities.

Vietnam and Romania have a time-honoured relationship with good cooperation and a history of more than 70 years. Vietnam established diplomatic relations with Romania on February 3, 1950.

The two countries regularly exchange delegations at all levels, including high-level ones. Romanian leaders always affirmed that Vietnam is a leading partner in Southeast Asia. As the rotating President of the EU Council in the first six months of 2019, Romania has actively supported and promoted the signing of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and is one of 3 EU member states to first to ratify EVFTA.

Economic and trade relations between Vietnam and Romania are developing well. Since 1990, the two sides have signed many documents creating a legal framework for cooperation in the new period. Vietnam's main export products are coffee, seafood, pepper, textiles, leather shoes and computer components. Since 2010, Romania has been classified as one of Vietnam's major seafood export markets (about 12,000 tonnes per year).

Regarding education and training, since 1992, Romania has restarted granting scholarships to Vietnamese students. In 1995, the two countries signed an Agreement on cooperation in the fields of culture, science, education and sports. Every year, Romania grants 20 university and postgraduate scholarships to Vietnamese students. Currently, the two sides have signed the new Education Program for the 2023-2027 period. 

In the field of labour, there are currently about 4,000 Vietnamese workers in Romania working in the fields of construction, shipbuilding, garments, and food processing. The number of Vietnamese workers going to Romania is expected to continue to increase in the near future because Romania needs labour resources. In December 2018, Vietnam and Romania signed an MOU on labour cooperation.

The Vietnamese community in Romania mainly sells garments at the Dragon Shopping Center in Bucharest. The community has organised the Vietnamese Association and Vietnamese Businessmen Association in Romania. People are always united and look towards the homeland. 

Based on the solid cooperation achievements that the two countries have reaped in recent times, the official visit to Romania by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his spouse is vital to expand traditional friendly relations and multi-faceted cooperation between Vietnam and Romania, creating motivation to promote bilateral cooperation. At the same time, it contributes to facilitating the relations between Vietnam and the EU.

During the trip to the 54th WEF Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, the official visit to Hungary and Romania by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his spouse and the Vietnamese high-level delegation is a paramount event in 2024 for Vietnam and its European partners. This is an opportunity for Vietnam to attract maximum resources to serve the country's development, taking advantage of positive assessments from international friends about Vietnam's potential, cooperation opportunities and international position. At the same time, this will develop good relations with WEF, Switzerland, Hungary and Romania.

Published: January 16, 2023
Production manager: BICH HANH – TRUONG SON
Content: MINH HANG – NGUYEN HA
Translation: NDO
Design: HOANG HA
Source: Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs