Dhaka (VNA) – Vietnam and Bangladesh – twoemerging economies with quick growth, big population and market, and abundant, young labour force – see ample room for bilateral cooperation, said Vietnamese Ambassador to Bangladesh PhamViet Chien.

In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency on the occasionof the two nations celebrating the 50th anniversary of theirdiplomatic relations, Chien recommended the sides effectively implement existingbilateral agreements and cooperation mechanisms, particularly the Joint Committee on economic, culture and science-technology cooperation and the Joint Sub-committee on Trade, while building new ones suitable totheir new development contexts.

Chien said the countries uphold the role of multilateralismin creating and maintaining a peaceful and stable environment regionally andglobally serving cooperation and development. Bearing the brunt of climatechange, they show similar approaches to such global issues as climate changeresponse as well as food and energy security, he added.

The two have been closely coordinating at many multilateralforums and continue to support each other in the international arena, thediplomat said, unveiling that their 50th anniversary celebrationwill take place throughout 2023 with diverse activities.

The traditional friendship between the countries has beencontinuously consolidated, developed and deepened across all channels of the party,state, parliament and people-to-people exchange. Many bilateral agreements have been signed and a range of cooperation mechanisms formed in differentfields like trade, industry, agriculture, fishery, animal husbandry, andscience-technology.

Bangladesh is currently Vietnam's second largest tradingpartner in South Asia. Trade between the countries nearly quadrupled within adecade from about 350 million USD in 2012 to about 1.47 billion USD in 2022,aiming for 2 billion USD set by the senior leaders of the twocountries in 2018./.