President Alexander Van der Bellen warmly welcomed President Vo Van Thuong on his official visit to the Republic of Austria, affirming that the visit demonstrates the importance of the Party, State of Vietnam and President Vo Van Thuong personally to the relationship between the two countries.

President Alexander Van der Bellen congratulated Vietnam on its great achievements in socio -economic development in recent times, affirming that Austria attaches importance to the traditional friendship and multi-faceted cooperation with Vietnam established since 1972, considering Vietnam an important partner in implementing Austria's foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific region, especially in trade and investment, and wishes to further strengthen and promote bilateral relations in economics, education and culture.

President Vo Van Thuong expressed his gratitude for the warm, thoughtful and respectful reception that President Alexander Van der Bellen and the Austrian people gave to the delegation, affirming that Vietnam always attaches importance to and wishes to strengthen the friendship and multifaceted cooperation with Austria, a trusted friend of Vietnam in the European Union (EU). The President believes that the visit will contribute to strengthening political trust between the two countries, creating a new impetus to strongly promote the Vietnam-Austria relationship in the next period, for the benefit of the people of the two countries, for peace, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

President Vo Van Thuong holds talks with President of the Republic of Austria Alexander Van der Bellen.

Discussing bilateral relations, President Vo Van Thuong and President Alexander Van der Bellen expressed satisfaction with the substantive and effective development after more than half a century of the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries in many fields such as politics - diplomacy, trade - investment, development cooperation, culture, education - training, vocational training, science - technology, and people-to-people exchange.

In order to increase political trust and exploit the great cooperation potential of the two countries, the two leaders agreed to increase the exchange of delegations at all levels, especially at high levels and through all channels, effectively deploy existing cooperation mechanisms, and at the same time study and establish new cooperation mechanisms suitable to the new situation.

Regarding economic cooperation, the two leaders positively assessed the economic, trade and investment relations between the two countries, with bilateral trade turnover reaching 2.79 billion USD in 2022, in which many large Austrian enterprises are doing business and investing in Vietnam. President Vo Van Thuong suggested that the two sides should continue to coordinate closely and effectively utilize the benefits of the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA); including considering facilitating each country's strong export products to access each other's markets; Austria has policies to encourage and facilitate Austrian enterprises to increase investment in Vietnam in areas of strength such as supporting industries for automobile production, railways, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, etc.

The Austrian President emphasized that Vietnam is Austria's largest partner in Southeast Asia, thereby hoping that both sides will pay attention to improving the bilateral trade balance. For his part, President Vo Van Thuong also asked Austria to soon complete the procedures for ratifying the Vietnam - EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) to facilitate equal and mutually beneficial investment relations between the two sides; asked Austria to support and urge the European Commission (EC) to soon remove the IUU yellow card for Vietnamese seafood, creating favorable conditions for Vietnam to export this item to the EU. The President asked Austria to put Vietnam on the priority list for receiving Official Development Assistance (ODA) capital and have more preferential lending policies, especially for projects in the fields of health, environment, vocational training, fire prevention and fighting, and rescue. The Austrian President welcomed the fact that the two sides are discussing preferential loans from the Austrian Government, thereby soon implementing sustainable development cooperation projects.

President Vo Van Thuong speaks.

In addition, the two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation activities in education and training, culture, arts, sports, and promote people-to-people exchange activities. The Austrian President highly appreciated the integration ability of the Vietnamese community in the economic and social life in Austria and agreed with the proposal of President Vo Van Thuong to continue to pay attention and create favorable conditions for the Vietnamese community in Austria, serving as a bridge for the friendly relations between the two countries.

Discussing regional and international issues of mutual concern, President Vo Van Thuong appreciated Austria's interest in promoting relations with Southeast Asia, and Vietnam's willingness to act as a bridge to help Austria strengthen relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); and suggested that Austria act as a bridge to help Vietnam strengthen relations with the EU. The two leaders agreed to continue to coordinate closely at regional and international forums, especially the United Nations and the ASEAN-EU cooperation framework, contributing to peace, cooperation and development in the region and the world. Regarding the East Sea, the two leaders reaffirmed the importance of peace, stability, safety, security and freedom of navigation in the East Sea, supporting international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

President Vo Van Thuong invited Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen and his wife to visit Vietnam soon and the Austrian President happily accepted the invitation.

After the talks, President Vo Van Thuong and Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen witnessed the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

* After the official welcoming ceremony and high-level talks, President Vo Van Thuong and President of the Republic of Austria Alexander Van der Bellen chaired a joint press conference to announce the results of the talks.

In a sincere, friendly and open atmosphere, the two leaders happily announced the important results of the talks; agreed on cooperation orientations and measures to promote and further deepen the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and the Republic of Austria.

Speaking at the press conference, President Alexander Van der Bellen warmly welcomed President Vo Van Thuong and his wife and the Vietnamese high-ranking delegation to their official visit to Austria; recalling his impressions of meeting President Vo Van Thuong in London (UK) on the occasion of attending the coronation ceremony of King Charles III of the UK. In 2022, the two countries organized many meaningful activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Austria-Vietnam diplomatic relations, contributing to fostering the friendship and relations between the two countries.

After the talks, President Vo Van Thuong and President of the Republic of Austria Alexander Van der Bellen met the press.

President Alexander Van der Bellen said that during the talks, the two sides discussed many issues to promote comprehensive cooperation in all fields. The President emphasized that Vietnam is an important trade partner of Austria in Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a large market and an attractive investment destination for Austrian businesses. Currently, Austria has dozens of businesses investing and doing business in Vietnam with a total investment of about 500 million euros. However, the two sides still have much potential to continue to exploit and cooperate in the coming period to bring more practical results. In addition, Vietnam and Austria also implemented many cooperation activities in dual training, preferential loans and cooperation between the two countries' foreign ministries according to the memorandum of understanding that was just signed.

President Alexander Van der Bellen emphasized that Vietnam is an important partner of the European Union (EU). In particular, after the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) was signed and took effect, it has made an important contribution to promoting economic and trade cooperation between Vietnam and the EU in general and between Vietnam and Austria in particular. In addition, Vietnam and the EU also have cooperation programs and projects in the fields of climate change response, environmental protection, human rights dialogue, etc. The two sides also coordinate well in multilateral international forums, sharing the same interest in promoting multilateral cooperation and resolving conflicts based on the principle of compliance with international law.

For his part, President Vo Van Thuong expressed his pleasure in visiting Austria, a country rich in historical and cultural traditions, beautiful and hospitable; and thanked the President, his wife and the Austrian people for their good feelings and warm and respectful welcome to the President, his wife and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation.

The President said that in an atmosphere of friendship, sincerity and mutual understanding, the two sides had a very successful meeting; agreed to assess that after more than 50 years of establishing diplomatic relations (1972-2022), the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Austria are developing well and dynamically. In terms of politics and diplomacy, the two countries regularly exchange delegations at all levels, especially high-level ones; closely coordinate and support each other at regional and international forums. In terms of economic cooperation, Austria is always among the top 10 export markets of Vietnam in Europe. Vietnam is an important trade partner of Austria in Southeast Asia. Cooperation in other fields such as culture, education, science and technology has developed substantially and effectively.

The President expressed his belief that this visit to Austria will create new momentum, enhance mutual understanding and trust, and lay a foundation for the relationship between Vietnam and Austria to develop strongly in the future.

The President said that the two sides have agreed on measures to further promote the Vietnam-Austria relationship in the coming period in all areas, from politics, foreign affairs; trade and investment cooperation; culture, sports, tourism; science - technology and people-to-people exchange. Sharing about regional and international issues, the President emphasized that Vietnam pursues an independent, self-reliant, diversified and multilateral foreign policy. Vietnam wants to be a friend and reliable partner of all countries, an active and responsible member of the international community. The President said: "We all want to resolve all conflicts in the region and the world on the basis of respect for the United Nations Charter and international law."

VNA

*Please visit the Politics section to see related news and articles.