Argentina aspires to establish strategic partnership with Vietnam

Talking to the media after presenting his letter of credence to President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Beltramino expressed his honour to be appointed Ambassador of Argentina to Vietnam and pledged his best efforts to continue reinforcing the solidarity, friendship, and cooperation between the two countries, which set up their comprehensive partnership in 2010.

He highlighted its three pillars of political dialogue, trade, and technical collaboration, while hailing the all-around cooperation. 

The political dialogue mechanism has been realized in the form of all-level exchange visits, especially those at high levels, the Argentinian said, adding that the two economies are complementary to each other.He assured his nation’s readiness to diversify products to meet Vietnam’s demand as the Southeast Asian nation has a number of high-quality products like technology, textile-garment, and footwear, which are all popular in his country.

He went on to say that the seventh meeting of the inter-governmental committee on economic-trade and scientific-technological cooperation is set to transpire in August to discuss issues relating to trade opening.

Maria Beltramino expressed his appreciation for the effectiveness of bilateral technical cooperation over the last two decades, noting the implementation of 15 joint projects across a multitude of fields, including industry and agriculture, which are the strengths of both nations.

The ambassador touched upon bilateral collaboration in forensic anthropology, in which the South American nation has been helping Vietnam to identify war martyrs.

He also highlighted the growth of the comprehensive partnership through numerous signed agreements, as well as potential fields for future cooperation, such as high tech and satellite services for peace purposes, for examples, supporting the study of soils, meteorology and agricultural production efficiency, of which Argentina holds competitive advantages.

Beltramino was also appreciative of the two countries’ mutual support for each other and exchanges of views in dealing with the world’s emerging challenges, namely climate change, human assistance, peacekeeping, observation of UN Charter and COVID-19 response. He said he hopes that the two countries will work hand in hand to together tackle these challenges for the benefits of the two peoples.

He used the occasion to congratulate Vietnam's national football team on advancing to the third round of World Cup qualification for the first time. He suggested the two sides cooperate in training players, saying promoting relations between their football federations and football clubs is a good idea, which will not only help spur the development of the sport in Vietnam but also contribute to tightening the bilateral ties.

Argentina, on the other hand, is very interested in developing badminton, a very popular sport in Vietnam, he stated.

Argentina was one of three Latin American countries, alongside Cuba and Chile, to establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam before 1975. The bilateral diplomatic ties were set up on October 25, 1973.

Argentina is now Vietnam’s third largest trade partner in Latin America, after Brazil and Mexico, with last year’s two-way trade hitting US$3.95 billion, representing a year-on-year rise of 4.3%.

According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade, the first two month of the year saw bilateral trade reach US$440, including US$174 million from Vietnamese exports to the South American nation, posting a year-on-year increase of 164.52%.