President Tran Dai Quang is visiting Bangladesh from March 4-6. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam-Bangladesh relationshave witnessed great strides in all fields, from politics, trade, economy toculture and people-to-people exchanges, since the establishment of diplomaticties 45 years ago (February 17, 1973), said Vietnamese Ambassador to BangladeshTran Van Khoa.
Bilateral economic and trade ties have maderemarkable progress, Khoa told the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) in an interview. Two-waytrade soared by 10 times in eight years, from 82 million USD in 2009 to morethan 920 million USD last year, he said, adding that Vietnam’s exports toBangladesh grew 15 times during the period, from about 60 million USD in 2009to 868 million USD in 2017.
Cultural events like Vietnamese Food Festival inDhaka, seminars on President Ho Chi Minh’s life and career and the publicationof the book “Bac Ho viet di chuc” (How Ho Chi Minh wrote his testament) by Vu Ky, alongtime personal secretary of President Ho Chi Minh, in Bengali language haveenhanced mutual understanding between the people of Vietnam and Bangladesh, theambassador noted.
However, investment between the two sides remainedmodest. To date Vietnam has invested only 10 million USD in a project inBangladesh, a 160-million-people market and a gateway to the South Asianmarkets, Khoa noted.
The ambassador suggested the two nations to paygreater attention to tackling barriers that have impeded the flows of investmentinto each other’s market. In addition, bilateral trade has focused on a fewsectors like building materials and pharmaceuticals while there are a lot ofpotential areas for cooperation awaiting the two sides to unleash, such asinformation technology and telecommunications, food processing, agriculture andaquaculture, infrastructure development, chemistry and mechanical engineering,he said.
[Vietnamese President begins State visit to Bangladesh]
Regarding President Tran Dai Quang’s visit toBangladesh, Khoa said the trip is of particular significance as it is the firstvisit by a Vietnamese President to the South Asian country in 14 years andespecially when the two countries are celebrating the 45th foundinganniversary of diplomatic relations.
The visit is even more meaningful in the context thatthe two sides have harvested remarkable development in all areas, includingpolitics, economy, trade, culture, education and defence, he stressed.
About 4-5 Memoranda of Understanding are expected tobe inked in the fields of animal husbandry, aquaculture, machinerymanufacturing, culture and training during the visit.
President Tran Dai Quang is scheduled to hold talkswith Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and meet with President MohammadAbdul Hamid and Speaker of the Bangladeshi Parliament ShirinSharmin Chaudhury, he added.
The president will also participate in theVietnam-Bangladesh Business Forum, which will take place for the first time inthe Bangladeshi capital city of Dhaka on March 6, expecting about 300 businessleaders from both sides in attendance.
The forum, together with many other economicdiplomatic activities deployed by the embassy through the year, is hoped tohelp Vietnam and Bangladesh to achieve the target of 1 billion USD in two-waytrade in the time to come, the ambassador said.-VNA
VNA
