Chairman of the Viet Nam – Belgium Friendship Association
At the meeting, participants included Pham Manh Hung, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Education & Training, Chairman of The Viet Nam - Belgium Friendship Association; Bui Anh Tuan, the principal of Foreign Trade University, Vice Chairman of the Viet Nam – Belgium Friendship Association... and Jehanne Roccas, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Belgium to Viet Nam.
Hung said that organizing ceremonies to celebrate Belgian National Day is a very meaningful annual activity of the Viet Nam - Belgium Friendship Association, to meet the aspirations of numerous members, at which people who love Belgium have an opportunity to gather, to exchange information, to seek cooperation opportunities, and to actively contribute to the promotion of friendship and cooperation in all aspects between the Government and people of the two countries.
The relationship between Viet Nam and the Kingdom of Belgium is increasingly tightened through high-ranking political exchanges and in all areas such as development cooperation, economic, education and culture,…Especially in political relations, the two sides regularly held high-ranking delegations, most notably the Belgian Crown Prince's visit to Viet Nam (March 2012); Visit to the Kingdom of Belgium by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Nguyen Phu Trong (January 2013); Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's visit (October 2014 and December 2015); and the most recent visit of Mr. Rudy Huygelen, Deputy Chief of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs and European Affairs, Kingdom of Belgium (April 2017), he shared.
At present, the two sides continue to promote bilateral cooperation and mutual support in multilateral forums and international organizations such as the United Nations, ASEM, ASEAN-EU and La Francophonie. The two sides agreed to continue to create favorable conditions for market access and enhance business environment, especially in the context of Vietnam and EU countries to sign the Free Trade Agreement between Viet Nam and EU (EVFTA) .
The Chairman is glad to witness the continued development of the cooperation between Viet Nam and the Kingdom of Belgium. It is a relationship built on the basis of favorable traditional friendship between the two peoples. To contribute to the development of that relationship is the outstanding people's diplomatic activities of the Association, including the exchange of delegations, friendship meetings, celebrate big events of the Kingdom of Belgium, organizing photo galleries between the two countries, Gala nights; networking for Vietnamese asso0ciations having cooperation with Belgium.
The Association will closely and cooperate with its branches such as Solvay Branch, VBA Branch, Can Tho Branch, Bel - Union Branch ... to successfully organize the Workshops, Seminars and Courses aimed at supporting professional sharing, expert exchange, networking and career development for alumni, and Vietnamese masters and PhD students studying in Belgium. The Association is looking forward to active participation and support for the implementation of the Action Plan of the Association in the coming period.
Jehanne Roccas, Belgian Ambassador to Viet Nam
Jehanne said that 186 years ago, Prince Leopold de Saxe-Coburg-Gothatook the oath and became first King of the Belgians. Belgium became quickly an industrialized country, an advanced economy, ranking now 21st on the Human Development Index.
2018 would mark 45 years of our bilateral diplomatic relations. Bilateral diplomatic relations between our two countries have been increasingly linked through effective cooperation in many fields, from economics, development to scientific and academic cooperation. Bilateral trade has been steadily increasing over the years. Belgium is proud to be the sixth largest exporter to Vietnam in the European Union, with nearly a thousand exporters to Viet Nam, and also the eighth largest importer of Vietnamese goods. Investment of Belgian enterprises into Viet Nam reaches the amount of 600 million Euros. The near signature of a new FTA Viet Nam – EU will lead to more investments and trade.
In the field of education and training, more than 2,000 Vietnamese students studying in Belgium and 2,000 graduates from the Solvay Masters Program in Viet Nam are the most compelling evidence of the successful cooperation. Highly applicable research results of Vietnamese and Belgian universities are also the successful result of both side cooperation for over 40 years.
She congratulated Viet Nam on the stable socio - economic development. Thanks to these achievements, you have become a Middle Income Country. In this context, grants from the Belgian Development Cooperation Program will end in 2019. This can be considered as a good opportunity to transform the cooperation between the two countries into a partnership of equality and mutual benefit.
Bui Anh Tuan, the principal of Foreign Trade University, shared that Foreign Trade University has been active in the Erasmus project in the exchange of faculty members and students, forming main partnership with several Belgian universities; as well as preparing to take part in the FCB (Belgium) proposal for the sponsorship in developing the competence of the university’s lecturers and staff.
Foreign Trade University hopes to continue promoting the partnership in educating and researching in economics and trade; as well as the exchange of students and faculty with Belgian universities and the cooperation with organizations and corporations in Belgium, Tuan said.
Tuan would love to form a branch of The Vietnam – Belgium Friendship Association, or a form of organization suitable to the regulations of the Association in Foreign Trade University.
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