Irish president suggests new cooperation areas with Vietnam

Receiving the ambassador after the ceremony, President Higgins recalled his good impression of his visit to Vietnam in 2016, and at the same time spoke highly of the strong development of the friendship and cooperation between the two countries, especially in economics, development cooperation, education and culture.

He proposed that both countries increase cooperation in the fields of climate change and environmental protection.

For his part, Ambassador Long expressed his honour to take on a new mission in Ireland and vowed to work hard to strengthen all-round cooperation between the two countries.

He briefed his host on Vietnam’s socio-economic development and foreign affairs, as well as the achievements in bilateral cooperation following President Higgins’ visit in November 2016.

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said the two-way trade between Vietnam and Ireland has kept rising, reaching US$4.2 billion in 2020 and US$4.7 billion in 2021. The first four months of 2022 saw bilateral trade rise 8.8% year on year to nearly US$1.7 billion.

The Ambassador hoped that President Higgins would support the two countries’ efforts to expand cooperation in new areas such as innovation and entrepreneurship, renewable energy, green agriculture, tourism, culture and people-to-people exchanges.

He also thanked the President and Irish agencies for creating favourable conditions for Vietnamese expatriates to live, work and study in Ireland, and at the same time to look towards the homeland.

Currently, there are about 5,000 Vietnamese people in Ireland.