PANO – State President of Vietnam Truong Tan Sang and his spouse left the country on the morning of November 24th (local time) to start his state-level visit to Germany from November, 24th, 2015 to 26th, at the invitation of German President Joachim Gauck.
Germany is universally known as a home to outstanding scholars and scientists, such as Humboldt, Einstein, Roentgen and Max Planck, and great thinkers, music composers and philosophers, namely Goethe, Schiller, Heine, Beethoven, Bach, Schumann, Hegel and Karl Marx.
>> President leaves for State visit to Germany
>> State President Truong Tan Sang visits Germany to boost cooperation
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| State President of Vietnam Truong Tan Sang. (Source: dangcongsan.vn) |
Germany is a culture-rich country, which has 5,000 museums, 300 theaters, over 100 opera houses, 7,500 libraries and some 130 professional symphonic orchestras. One of the famous cultural events in the country is the Wagner Music Festival in Bayreuth city. German cinema has seen remarkable achievements since the 1990s and it annually holds the Berlin International Film Festival, with the famous Golden Bear Award, in the capital city of Berlin. According to statistics, there are hundreds of cultural festivals in the country, particularly the Oktoberfest (beer festival) in Munich between the end of September and beginning of October every year, which often draws hundreds of thousands of international visitors.
Germany is a major member and plays an important role in regional and international organizations, including EU, NATO, OECD, G7 and UN. Since its reunification, Germany has consistently pursued its policy of supporting a multipolar system; honouring international law, human rights and democracy; and prioritizing dialogues and negotiations, preventing crises and promoting confidence in its international relations. In its policy toward Asia, Germany is increasingly keen on Southeast Asia, including Vietnam.
The two countries established diplomatic ties on September 23rd, 1975. Since then, the friendly and cooperative relations between the two nations have developed in depth and breadth. Vietnam has considered Germany one of its most important partners in Europe for many years. On the visit of German Prime Minister Angela Merkel to Vietnam in October 2011, the two sides signed a joint statement on the establishment of a strategic partnership, in which the two sides figured out specific objectives and measures to promote cooperation in prioritized areas.
Germany is Vietnam’s largest trading partner in Europe, which imports 19% of Vietnamese exports to Europe. It serves as an important gateway for Vietnamese products to enter other European markets. Two-way trade reached US$ 7.9 billion in 2014 and US$ 6.66 billion in the first 9 months of 2015.
Vietnamese exports to the market include mobile phones, computer spare-parts, garment and textile, footwear, coffee and seafood while Vietnam imports machinery, equipment, vehicles, pharmaceuticals and chemicals from Germany.
Germany is urging the EU to recognize Vietnam as a full market economy and plays an active role in negotiations on the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).
Germany considers Vietnam a potential growing market in Asia. As of September 2015, Germany runs 261 projects with total investment of US$ 1.413 billion, ranked 22nd among 105 foreign investors in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Vietnam has 17 in-effect projects with total investment of US$ 92 million in Germany.
Germany is one of the major and regular ODA providers for Vietnam. Since 1990, the Germany has provided some US$ 2 billion for ODA projects in Vietnam via technical and financial cooperation.
In terms of human resources development, Germany is one of Vietnam’s most important partners, which has supported the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs in crafting the national vocational training strategy and drafting the Vocational Training Law, as well as building vocational schools in Vietnam modeled after successful German vocational schools.
Every year, Germany provides Vietnam a number of scholarships for postgraduate courses in the country. At this point, some 300 Vietnamese German postgraduate scholarship recipients and 4,600 more Vietnamese students are studying at German universities and colleges.
In 1990, Vietnam and Germany signed an agreement on cultural cooperation, which was seen as a premise to foster cultural exchanges between the two nations. In 1997, Germany built the German Cultural Center in Hanoi. Today, the Center serves as a place to introduce German cultural activities and provide German courses to Vietnamese people.
Regarding tourism, Germany is considered one of Vietnam’s most important markets; around 100,000 German tourists arrive in Vietnam per year.
The two countries have also obtained a number of scientific and technological achievements over the past years. The two sides often exchange delegations of scientists and experts, hold scientific seminars and conduct joint research projects.
This visit of President Truong Tan Sang has become the first state-level visit of Vietnam’s State President to Germany since the country’s reunification in 1990. It also coincides with the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations.
With their strategic partnership, Vietnam and Germany are promoting their friendly and cooperative relations for the benefits of each country and at the same time contributing to the common effort of maintaining peace and stability in the region and world.
The Vietnamese people strongly believe that the state-level visit to Germany of the Vietnamese President and his wife will be successful, opening a new phase in the bilateral relations.
Written by Editorial Board
Translated by Thu Nguyen