Greece supports Vietnam in promoting comprehensive partnership with EU

The Greek President made the affirmation during her talks with President Nguyen Xuan Phuc in Hanoi on May 16 as part of her ongoing visit to Vietnam from May 15-19.

At the meeting, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc appreciated the official visit to Vietnam by Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, while believing that the visit would contribute to deepening the sound friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

President Sakellaropoulou, in turn, applauded the important achievements in multiple aspects that Vietnam has recorded during its struggle for independence and present process of socio-economic development. She affirmed that Greece greatly valued the increasingly important role of Vietnam in the region and the world, and hoped to ramp up all-around cooperation with the Southeast Asian nation.

Regarding bilateral relations, both State leaders were elated to see that the cooperation between the two countries has remarkably progressed since the visit to Greece by President Nguyen Minh Triet and the visit to Vietnam by the Greek President Karolos Papoulias in 2008, as well as the recent exchange visits of Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kozias in 2017, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh in 2018 and Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan in 2021.

The pair agreed on measures to strengthen cooperative relations between the two countries by intensifying the exchange of delegations and meetings at all levels among ministries, sectors and localities as well as the two business communities
They consented to assign the two ministries of foreign affairs to review and seek proper solutions to propel the bilateral partnership forward in the coming time.

President Phuc thanked Greece for providing COVID-19 vaccines to Vietnam’s pandemic fight.
Both sides showed elation that despite suffering the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, trade between the two countries rose to US$447 million in 2021, up 33% on- year, and two times higher than the 15% growth in Vietnam-EU trade.
The two State leaders concurred to strengthen the win-win partnership, while encouraging and offering favourable conditions for both nations’ businesses to increase exchanges, with a major focus on areas of Vietnam’s demand and Greece’s strengths such as shipbuilding, maritime logistics, energy and agriculture. In order to create a framework for bilateral economic cooperation, they agreed to accelerate negotiations in order to finalize the legal framework of a double tax avoidance agreement and another on maritime transport.

They agreed to bolster cooperation in other fields such as defence, security, culture, education, sports, tourism and people-to-people exchange. President Phuc thanked Greek leaders and competent agencies to create the best possible conditions for the Vietnamese community to live, work and study in the country.

Host and guest pledged to boost collaboration at international and regional forums, especially in the settlement of non-traditional issues such as pandemics and climate change within the mechanisms of the United Nations, the Asia-Europe Meeting, and ASEAN-EU Cooperation.

President Phuc was appreciative of Greece’s ratification of the EU-Vietnam Investment Promotion Agreement (EVIPA), and suggested the Southeast European nation supports and calls for the removal of the EU’s “yellow card” warning against Vietnamese seafood.

The two leaders also compared notes on a number of international and regional issues of shared concern, including maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation on the foundation of international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

After the talks, both leaders hosted a media meeting to announce the major outcomes of their talks, highlighting that the two sides agreed to enhance closer coordination to take bilateral ties to new heights, while deepening cooperation across multiple areas and promoting their supplementary strengths, and economic partnership as a positive contribution to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world as a whole.