HCM City (VNA) – A ceremony was held in Ho Chi Minh City onAugust 21 to mark the 45th founding anniversary of Vietnam-Canadadiplomatic relations (August 21, 1973-2018).

Addressing the event, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of ExternalAffairs Nguyen Tuan noted that in recent years, along with regular meetingsbetween senior leaders, Vietnam and Canada have increased the exchange of delegationsand step up bilateral partnership, focusing on the areas of politics-diplomacy,economy-trade, education-training, and development cooperation.

Particularly, in 2017, within the official visit to Vietnam by CanadianPrime Minister Justin Trudeau, the two countries agreed to lift up bilateralties to the level of comprehensive partnership, which is not only a milestonein their relations but also a motivation for the promotion of friendship, more extensiveand effective cooperation, especially when they are sharing interests inbilateral, regional and international aspects, he said.

Tuan lauded the efforts of the Consulate General and community of Canadain Ho Chi Minh City in working with the city to organise various activities tofoster people-to-people exchanges and raise public awareness of differentissues such as environmental protection, climate change response, women andchildren empowerment, support for the disabled, and the fight against humantrafficking.

Kyle Nunas, Canadian Consul General in HCM City highlighted strides in thebilateral partnership, especially in trade, investment, education-training,culture, and tourism. Visits by leaders of the two nations have opened up newcooperation prospects for the two countries in many fields, he said.

Nunas suggested that Vietnam and Canada should exert more efforts torealise cooperation activities, thus forging stronger affiliation in allfields.

Along with many multilateral organisations and international forums inwhich both countries are members, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreementfor Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is also a good chance for the two nationsto promote economic cooperation, he added.

Currently, more than 250,000 Vietnamese Canadian and 14,000 Vietnamese studentsare living, working and studying in Canada. In 2017, trade revenue between thetwo countries reached nearly 5 billion USD. Vietnam is now the biggest tradepartner of Canada among ASEAN countries, while Canada ranks 14th outof 112 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with 149 projects worth4.1 billion USD.-VNA