Both were pleased with the development of the friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Germany at different levels in recent years.

They agreed to enhance and improve bilateral cooperation for the benefit of the two countries’ people.

They highly valued that Germany remains Vietnam’s largest trading partner in the European Union, registering a 15 percent annual increase in two-way trade to US$ 4.1 billion in 2010.

More than 200 German businesses, including world-leading groups in equipment, machinery, technology and the pharmaceutical industry are investing and operating in Vietnam.

Both discussed measures to accelerate the implementation of major cooperation projects, namely metro route No.2 and the Vietnam-Germany University in Ho Chi Minh City.

PM Dung thanked Germany for its commitment on further official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam amidst Germany’s economic difficulties from the global economic crisis.

Chancellor Merkel affirmed Germany’s strong support in promoting cooperation between the EU and Vietnam, especially EU’s early adoption of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), which was initialed with Vietnam, and the warming-up of negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) between the EU and Vietnam.

PM Dung repeated his invitation to Chancellor Merkel to visit Vietnam. The German Chancellor accepted the invitation with pleasure and announced her visit in October this year.