At the event (Photo: congthuong.vn)

Vietnam, Israel speed up signing of FTA to boost exports

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien hosted a meeting on May 19 alongside Israeli Ambassador to Vietnam Yaron Mayer to update both sides on the legal review of documents under the free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries, as well as other legal procedures as they prepare for the signing.

Accordingly, Minister Dien affirmed that the Vietnamese side will continue to actively cooperate alongside Israel in order to put the trade pact into effect soon and bring practical benefits to the businesses of both sides.

With regard to other bilateral trade issues, Minister Dien suggested that the two countries continue to strengthen co-operation in accelerating trade and investment promotion, send businesses to attend trade events, as well as actively building a mechanism for sharing information on policies and technical regulations in order to facilitate import and export activities moving forward.

Furthermore, the Vietnamese Minister underlined the need to augment co-operation in the fields such as high-tech equipment, biotechnology, agricultural product processing, food, as well as expanding co-operation in potential fields for mutual benefits, cited VOV.

Minister Dien called for Israeli businesses to invest more in industrial production projects, especially high-tech, biotechnology and information technology, consumer and food industry, industrial environment treatment, start-ups, innovation, vocational training, and technology transfer.

PM receives leaders of Japan-Vietnam friendship associations

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received leaders of the Hiroshima - Vietnam Peace and Friendship Association, the Hiroshima - Vietnam Association, and the Japan - Vietnam Friendship Association of Hiroshima prefecture on May 19 as part of his three-day trip to attend the expanded Summit of the Group of Seven (G7) and working visit to Japan.

PM Chinh hoped that the associations will continue making contributions to promoting cooperation between Vietnam and Japan in general and with Hiroshima in particular so that the relationships will become more stable, effective, and fruitful in the future, according to VNA.

PM Pham Minh Chinh (R) receives representatives of the Japan - Vietnam Friendship Association of Hiroshima prefecture on May 19. (Photo: VNA)

The associations should call on enterprises from Hiroshima prefecture to invest and step up business operations in Vietnam, he said.

They were also urged to promote people-to-people exchanges and cultural connections between Vietnam and Japan, and support Vietnamese expatriates in the south-central region of Japan so that they can promote their important role in connecting the two countries.

Akagi Tatsuo, Vice President of the Hiroshima - Vietnam Peace and Friendship Association, held that Vietnam is Japan's closest partner in Asia.

He affirmed that the friendship associations will actively implement activities following the PM’s orientations and recommendations, thus making more contributions to the Vietnam - Japan relations.

Vietnam strives to boost relations with UK localities

Vietnamese Ambassador to the UK Nguyen Hoang Long has paid a working visit to Manchester - the capital of England’s Greater Manchester, and Cardiff - the capital of Wales, to promote cooperation between Vietnam and UK localities, especially in the areas of business, trade, investment, and education.

The visit, which took place on May 16-17, was one of the activities of the Vietnam-UK Friendship Year programme in celebration of the 50th founding anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties.

In Manchester city, the Vietnamese Embassy, in collaboration with KPMG Group, the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, and the UK-ASEAN Business Council, organised the Vietnam and ASEAN Business and Trade Conference, which was attended by representatives from more than 50 British businesses interested in the Vietnamese market and those that are investing and doing business in Vietnam.

Ambassador Long briefed participants on the Vietnamese market which has a stable political and social background, and a population of 100 million people with a golden population structure, and a dynamic, and rapidly and sustainably developing economy.

He said that British businesses have an advantage in the Vietnamese market as their goods have good brands and are popular in Vietnam, and encouraged them to visit Vietnam to learn more about this market so as to have appropriate investment and business cooperation strategies.

Participants appreciated the Vietnamese market for its openness, dynamism and favourable business and investment environment. Many of them said they are particularly interested in Vietnam and want to soon carry out or expand investment in this market, reported VOV.

Delegates to Vietnam and ASEAN Business and Trade Conference (Photo: VNA)

In Cardiff city, within the framework of the Meeting Vietnam-Wales event, on May 17, Ambassador Long worked with First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford and Minister for Education and Welsh Language Jeremy Miles, and attended and delivered a speech at a special working session of the Welsh Parliament on the outlook of cooperation between Vietnam and Wales.

During meeting, the two sides reviewed important cooperation results achieved in the past time and exchanged ideas on directions and plans for the coming time.

The Wales side also spoke highly of Vietnam’s sustainable socio-economic achievements over the past times and prospects for bilateral cooperation, especially in education, culture, tourism, and people-to-people diplomacy. For education, which is a key field of cooperation, Wales identifies Vietnam, along with Europe, North America and India, as a strategic partner, and commits to supporting and promoting cooperation activities in the future to continue expanding the active participation of universities and educational institutions of the two sides.

Mark Drakeford proposed the Vietnamese Embassy step up the organisation of seminars to enhance mutual understanding.

Long proposed Wales appoint an agency to take charge of cooperating with Vietnam, and the two sides study and accelerate the signing of a local-level agreement to create a foundation for promoting cooperation in the long run and in a systematic manner. The diplomat affirmed the Vietnamese Embassy’s willingness to support this negotiation and signing process.

PM meets with Vietnamese community in Japan

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had a meeting with representatives of the Vietnamese community in Japan on May 19 right after arriving in Tokyo for the expanded summit of the Group of Seven (G7) and a working visit to Japan from May 19 to 21.

Ambassador Pham Quang Hieu told the PM that the 476,000-strong Vietnamese community is the second largest foreign community in Japan, and the second biggest community of Vietnamese in the world.

The community comprises about 250,000 workers and apprentices, about 50,000 students, 60,000 engineers and about 50,000 residents. Vietnamese people, mostly youngsters, are living, working and studying in all 47 cities and provinces of Japan.

They have enjoyed favourable conditions from the host government in living, studying and doing business, said the ambassador.

Representative of the community showed delight at the PM's participation at the G7 expanded summit, which affirms Vietnam's rising position. They expressed confidence at the strong growth and bright future of the country.

They also gave a number of proposals for the development of the Vietnamese community and the promotion of Vietnam's image in Japan, as well as policies allowing them to make greater contributions to the homeland.

Showing his delight at the growth of the Vietnamese community in Japan, PM Chinh underlined that the Party and State always take the overseas Vietnamese community as an important and inseparable part of the nation, and a development motivation of the country.

The Party and State always work hard to care for the community, and hope for their contributions to the Fatherland, he said.

The Government leader highlighted the close relations between Vietnam and Japan, noting that in only two years since Japanese PM Fumio Kishida took office, the two PMs met six times to discuss ways to further expand the extensive strategic partnership between the two countries, cited VNA.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh meets with Vietnamese community in Japan on May 19 (Photo: VNA)

Currently, Japan is the largest ODA provider of Vietnam, the third biggest investor, the third largest tourism market, and the fourth biggest trade partner, he said, adding that the two sides have exchanged viewpoints and shown close coordination at multilateral forums. This is a good condition for the Vietnamese community in Japan to develop, he stressed.

Briefing the community on Vietnam's situation, PM Chinh said that during the past over 35 years of implementing the "Doi Moi" (renewal) cause, Vietnam’s economic scale has reached 409 billion USD, with per capita income rising to 4,100 USD, and export revenue hitting 371 billion USD in 2022.

Vietnam has entered the list of 20 leading economies in terms of international trade and signed about 100 bilateral and multilateral trade agreements as well as more than 60 investment protection deals with partners, he said, adding that the living conditions of locals have been improved, with ensured security-defence and expanded external relations.

Taking note of the proposals of the community, PM Chinh said that the Government hopes for more ideas from the community and will bring them into policies and laws during the institution completion.

He asked the embassy and representative agencies in Japan to take a better care of the community, and extended regards of Vietnamese Party, State and National Assembly leaders to them.

SEA Games 32: Vietnam's impressive achievements

At the end of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), Vietnamese athletes had won 136 gold medals, 105 silver medals and 114 bronze medals, ranking first in the medal tally.

Vietnam surpassed Thailand, the second highest, for the number of gold medals. Vietnam had 28 more gold medals than Thailand.

This result helped Vietnam top the SEA Games medal tally for the third time in history, after the games in 2003 and 2022.

Notably, this was the first time that Vietnam ranked first when the games were not held in the home country.

The sports that brought the highest number of gold medals for Vietnam were diving (14 gold medals), wrestling (13), athletics (12), vovinam (7), wushu (6), gymnastics (4), taekwondo (4), and fencing (4).

Photo: VNN

Runner Nguyen Thi Oanh won the highest number of gold medals from four individual women’s running events: 1,500m, 3,000m hurdles, 5,000m and 10,000m.

The youngest athlete of the Vietnamese team who won a gold medal was golfer Le Khanh Hung, 15. This was the first time that Vietnam golf had won a gold medal. For this sport, Vietnam won one silver for the team and one bronze medal for the individual men categories.

Vietnamese athletes broke 16 SEA Games records in swimming by Pham Thanh Bao, three weightlifting records (jerk, push, general election) by Nguyen Quoc Toan in the 89kg category and Tran Minh Tri (weightlifting, 67kg category), and scuba diving category, VNN reported.

Notably, runner Nguyen Thi Huyen set a milestone with 13 SEA Games gold medals. The Vietnamese women's football team won its 4th gold medal in a row and its 8th at SEA Games.

As many as 61 of 136 gold medals of Vietnam are Olympic categories, accounting for 45%, including swimming (7), athletics (12), 3x3 basketball (1), boxing (2), bicycle (1), fencing (4), football (1), golf (1), gymnastics (4), judo (7), table tennis (1), taekwondo (2), weightlifting (4), wrestling (13), and breaking (1).

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