Vietnamese Ambassador to Germany Vu Quang Minh held a working session with a delegation of interns from the German Foreign Ministry to discuss Vietnam’s foreign policies on April 11.

It was the first time that interns from various universities in Germany had joined a discussion on Vietnam-Germany relationship, as well as several current international issues related to their fields of study at the Vietnamese Embassy.

They watched a video clip introducing Vietnam’s foreign achievements and several diplomatic milestones in 2022, the Vietnam-Germany relationship, and Vietnam’s foreign policies amid more unpredictable and complicated developments in the world than forecasted.

Minh briefed them on Vietnam’s foreign policy, its stance on certain global and regional issues, and important missions of the diplomatic sector in the national development process, especially its significant role in promoting post-pandemic economic growth.

Reviewing outstanding achievements of economic diplomacy in 2022, Minh said keeping up with the world’s trend of reopening, Vietnam has actively stepped up direct diplomatic activities bilaterally and multilaterally and deepened ties with countries and international organisations, thus demonstrating the policy of balancing and diversifying foreign relations.

The sector also quickly shifted its focus from “vaccine diplomacy” to “economic diplomacy” in service of national recovery and development. In accordance with a Directive of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat and directions of the Government, it advised on the timing of reopening, helping to promptly attract investment flows, revive tourism, restore production, and propel economic growth leading the region, he added.

Answering interns’ questions about Vietnam’s socio-economic development last year, Minh highlighted the country’s efforts to step up the implementation of free trade agreements, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and urge the European Union (EU) to remove the yellow card warning and realise the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA).

He affirmed that the direction towards new markets, green economy, digital economy and circular economy has helped the Vietnamese goods gain a foothold in many places, with a record export-import value of over 730 billion USD.

Germany remains Vietnam’s biggest trade partner in the EU while Vietnam has become Germany’s largest trade partner in Southeast Asia. After more than 10 years of strategic partnership, two-way trade doubled. As of November 2022, it topped 10.6 billion USD, up 16.7% annually. According to Germany’s statistics, the figure was even higher, reaching 12.16 billion USD.

On the global arena, Vietnam and Germany also offer mutual support at international forums.

As active and responsible members of the international community, Vietnam and Germany share many core values, strategic interests and concerns in the region and the world, for the sake of cooperation, stability, peace and development based on the rule of law, Minh said.

On the occasion, he also shared his professional experience in diplomatic sector over the past three decades.

VNA