Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (photo: VOV5)

Tapping cooperation potential with European countries

Estonia, the first stop in Prime Minister Chinh’s trip, established diplomatic relations with Vietnam in 1992. Estonia has repeatedly affirmed that Vietnam is its priority partner in Southeast Asia and has expressed a desire to further enhance bilateral cooperation.

Although two-way trade remains modest, the two countries agree that there is significant potential for cooperation in sectors where one country has strengths and the other has needs, such as information technology, communications, e-government, artificial intelligence, financial technology, the digital economy, smart logistics, and digital seaports.

The two sides are promoting the early signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between their Foreign Ministries to establish a framework for comprehensive bilateral cooperation.

Sweden was one of the first European nations to establish diplomatic ties with Vietnam in 1969. It actively supported Vietnam during its struggle for independence and national reunification, and during its development and modernization process.

The bilateral relationship is developing strongly in economy, trade, and investment. Two-way trade in 2024 totaled1.5 billion USD. Sweden ranks 29th among the 149 countries and territories invested in Vietnamese science, technology, innovation, green economy, digital economy, circular economy, infrastructure, renewable energy, and defense.

This will be Prime Minister Chinh’s first visit to France since the two countries elevated their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in October 2024. The visit comes right after French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Vietnam, which yielded substantive results.

Vietnamese Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang said: “The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is opening up a broader and deeper cooperation space in strategic areas aligned with the two countries' interests and potentials. The two countries have complementary strengths to support each other in implementing development strategies and elevating their positions. French enterprises and corporations have advantages in high technology, energy, infrastructure, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and aerospace, while Vietnam has a large domestic market, abundant human resources, and deep integration into global value chains.”

Vietnam’s contributions to sustainable ocean conservation

This will be PM Chinh’s first attendance at the UN Ocean Conference, where he will be a special guest of French President Emmanuel Macron. Themed “Accelerating action and mobilizing all actors to conserve and sustainably use the ocean”, UNOC 3 will address pressing global issues and foster international cooperation to diversify financial and technological resources in response to shared challenges.

UNOC 3 matches Vietnam’s strategy of sustainably developing a marine economy based on green growth and the conservation of marine biodiversity and ecosystems. Prime Minister Chinh will deliver a keynote speech reaffirming Vietnam's readiness to be a reliable partner in international cooperative frameworks and models.

This viewpoint was affirmed by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Le Minh Ngan at the recent International Conference on Sustainable Ocean Economy in Hanoi “Vietnam is ready to cooperate with countries and partners in sharing scientific knowledge, experience, resources, and integrated management initiatives for a sustainable and climate-resilient blue ocean economy. Vietnam is a responsible and proactive member of the international community.”