Bilateral co-operation in economic areas, and Russian aggression on Ukraine were the topics of talks between Zbigniew Rau and the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Pham Minh Chinh, and the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bui Thanh Son. The politicians met on Thursday in Hanoi.
The chief of the Polish diplomacy has been on an official visit to Vietnam since Wednesday as part of his wider trip to Asia.
The head of the Polish Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed that Warsaw would like to intensify economic cooperation with Vietnam; he noted that it is one of the most dynamically developing countries and an important partner of Poland in Southeast Asia.
“Talks with the Prime Minister of Vietnam and my counterpart included topics of, primarily economic nature. Vietnam is our fourth trading partner in Asia. It is a thriving economy, which, coming out of the pandemic, has achieved an increase of almost 9 percent, so it is a very attractive economic partner,” the minister told Polish journalists.
“We have been present here for a long time, mainly in the pharmaceutical industry, whose investments we are trying to increase. Our hosts are interested in practically every area of cooperation, so every department of the Vietnamese government is interested in it or is already involved in it,” said the Polish head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He stated that the Vietnamese are mainly interested in investing in new technologies, especially in financial, medical, smart cities and green technologies.
He emphasized that both countries are also interested in facilitating work of Vietnamese specialists in Poland; and spoke in this context about the important role of the Vietnamese diaspora in our country. He noted how they are interested in constantly improving their qualifications.
The minister informed that the Polish airline LOT is now interested in introducing regular flights not only from Poland to Hanoi, but also to other Vietnamese cities, as well as cargo transport.
Rau pointed out and the Vietnamese side also reminded about ongoing interest of the Vietnamese youth for studying in Poland. He added, describing that Polish-Vietnamese relations are “versatile and comprehensive”.
The minister mentioned the issue of the war in Ukraine was also raised during the talks. He noted how the perspective on perceiving Russian aggression against this country is different in Vietnam than in Poland.
“Here we think about it in terms of the Vietnam War experience, which lasted 10 years, and the negotiations that led to the Paris Agreements that ended it lasted 6 years. Therefore, Ukrainian-Russian negotiations are expected here,” Rau said.
The Polish Foreign Minister noted that it doesn’t necessarily mean that the Vietnamese perspective is pro-Russian; and he reminded that the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kuleba, will visit Vietnam next month.
“The position of the Vietnamese side is very balanced and open to all arguments,” Rau added.
After the meeting, the ministers took part in signing of the cooperation agreement between the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland and the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam.
On Friday, the chief of Polish diplomacy will meet with representatives of the Polish-Vietnamese Parliamentary Group of Friendship in the National Assembly – Vietnam’s unicameral parliament.
Source : TVP World
