Vietnam is one of the Netherlands’ most important partners in the region, visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told Vietnamese Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong.

Vietnamese Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong (R) and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. (Source: VNA)

During a meeting with the Vietnamese Party and State leader in Hanoi on April 9 in the framework of his official visit to Vietnam, the Dutch PM said that he is impressed by Vietnam’s current development.

He expressed his joy at the fruitful development of bilateral relations between the Netherlands and Vietnam in recent times, especially in trade-investment and strategic cooperation fields, such as climate change adaptation, water management, sustainable agriculture, and food security.

The guest affirmed the attraction of the Vietnamese market in particular and ASEAN market in general for Dutch businesses and partners, adding that he believes the two nations will cooperate with greater strength in the future.

For his part, Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong applauded the second visit of PM Rutte to Vietnam in the context of effective and dynamic cooperation between the two countries.

He appreciated the Netherlands’ continued role as the biggest European investor in Vietnam, the second largest European trading partner, as well as being one of the major export markets of the southeast Asian country.

He applauded the building of a comprehensive partnership between the two sides to increase cooperation and meet the development requirements of the two countries, especially in areas with great potential, such as renewable energy, high-quality agriculture, the food industry, seaport and logistics services, and smart urban development.

He highly valued the close coordination between the two countries at multilateral forums, including the United Nations, ASEAN, and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), suggesting the Dutch side actively encourage the European Union (EU) to complete the legal review and procedures towards signing the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement and the Investment Protection Agreement between Vietnam and EU.

VNF/VNA