>>> PM Phuc pays official visit to Romania
Since 1990, Romania has been implementing market-oriented economic reform. It faced a range of difficulties in the first 10 years of implementing the policy, with high inflation and unemployment rates. Since 2000, the Romanian economy has continued to grow positively, with GDP in 2008 increasing by 8%. Since the end of 2008, Romania has been severely affected by the world financial-economic crisis, but since 2011 its economy began to grow again. In 2018, Romania's GDP grew by 4.1%, while foreign currency reserves reached US$44.43 billion. By the end of 2018, total FDI capital reached US$82.1 billion.
Romania is a member of multiple regional and international organisations. The current priorities of Romania's foreign policy are deep integration into the European Union (EU), strengthening relations with neighbouring countries and attaching importance to developing traditional friendly relations with many Asian countries.
Vietnam and Romania first established diplomatic relations on February 3, 1950. From 1950-1989, Romania provided assistance and offered loans to Vietnam in order to develop a number of economic sectors. After Romania changed its political regime in December 1989, the two countries have continued to develop traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation. The good relationship has been marked by high-level visits between the two sides, in which the recent highlight were the visits to Romania by National Assembly Deputy Chairman Uong Chu Luu and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh in 2018. Former Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos visited Vietnam in July 2016. High-ranking leaders of the two countries regularly meet on the sidelines of international conferences.
In addition, bilateral cooperation mechanisms, such as political consultations, are held regularly. The two countries are also actively coordinating and supporting each other at regional and international forums. Within the framework of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), the two sides co-sponsored the Hungarian initiative on the role of water in the sustainable regional development strategy.
Economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries has developed positively, whilst bilateral trade turnover in recent years has grown steadily, reaching US$218.3 million in 2018. In 2009, the two sides reached an agreement on economic cooperation. Based on this agreement, both sides held the 14th meeting of the Vietnam - Romania Inter-governmental Committee on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation in Bucharest in June 2010 and the next session of the Inter-governmental committee in Hanoi in June 2016. Since 2010, Romania has been classified as a major seafood export market for Vietnam, purchasing roughly 12,000 tonnes a year. By the end of 2017, Romania had three FDI projects in the Southeast Asian country with a total registered capital of US$2.1 million.
Cooperation between Vietnam and Romania in other areas, such as culture - tourism, education - training, security - defense, science - technology, justice and cooperation between localities of both sides have also seen positive developments. Several Vietnamese and Romania localities have established relations, such as Lao Cai province and Hunedoara county, Da Nang city and Timisoara city, Hanoi and Bucharest, and Ben Tre province with Tulcea county.
The two sides are promoting the implementation of a project on "Establishing a pilot biodiversity conservation area for sustainable ecotourism development and a knowledge centre for ecotourism development in the Mekong Delta" in Ben Tre province.
The Vietnamese community in Romania currently has about 500 people who are always united and thinking of their homeland.
The official visit to Romania by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his spouse and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation aims to continue affirming Vietnam’s consistent foreign policy of diversification, multilateralism, proactive international integration and bringing international relations into a practical manner.
The visit also contributes to affirming that Vietnam attaches great importance to and desires to strengthen the friendship and cooperation with Romania, creating conditions for enterprises of the two countries to approach and understand each other's markets, potentials, needs and strengths.
