Irish Times: President Higgins’s Vietnam visit marks bilateral ties

The Irish Times of Ireland on November 6 ran a long article covering the eight-day trip of President Michael D. Higgins to Vietnam and Laos, saying his State visit to Vietnam marks the strength of the 20-year bilateral diplomatic ties.

Minister and Head of the Presidential Office Dao Viet Trung (R) receives Irish President Michael D. Higgins at Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport. Photo: VNA
Minister and Head of the Presidential Office Dao Viet Trung (R) receives Irish President Michael D. Higgins at Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport. Photo: VNA

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President Michael D Higgins has begun an eight-day visit to Vietnam and Laos that will focus on boosting bilateral ties, especially in trade, investment, development, education and training, the article said.

Higgins is due to meet President Tran Dai Quang at the Presidential Palace on November 7 and later in the day he will also meet National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.

A strong focus of the trip will be Irish aid projects in Vietnam and Laos, the article said, adding President Higgins will make a keynote address to the country’s oldest university, the Vietnam National University, on November 8.

The article noted that Vietnam is one of Ireland’s key aid beneficiaries as the country is facing significant development challenges. However, it stressed that Vietnam has made major progress in recent years.

The article also cited the interview President Higgins granted to Vietnam News, the English newspaper of the Vietnam News Agency, during which he said both Ireland and Vietnam had to struggle for independence, as well as noting that Irish people were deeply impressed by how the Vietnamese people had to defeat not one but several imperialist aggressors.

“I think one of the great challenges facing both countries, here in Ireland and in Vietnam, is to get an economic model that will benefit all the people,” he said.

“In this context, the reduction of poverty from 70 percent to less than 23 percent is a very significant achievement,” the President said.

Ireland gave EUR134.88 million (US$150 million) in non-refundable aid to Vietnam between 2007 and 2016, focusing on poverty reduction, support for vulnerable groups and economic management.

Ireland has provided EUR.54 million for research into climate impacts on the Lower Mekong Basin via the EU-led Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA) from 2012 to 2015.

Ireland has provided support to civil society organisations working to pilot and scale up new models in community-based climate-sensitive development.

Bilateral trade reached EUR360.55 million (US$402 million) in 2015, up 28 percent from the previous year. Ireland currently has 17 investment projects with a combined capital of EUR18.7 million (US$20.7 million) in Vietnam, ranking 67th among 115 countries and territories investing here, the article said.