Vietnam fosters traditional ties with Latin American nations

On the occasion, Mexico's NotiMass Guerrero newspaper reviewed memorable milestones in the traditional relationship between Vietnam and Latin American countries, emphasizing that despite the ocean separation, this is a solidarity originating from the similarity in the history of the struggle for national liberation and the love of freedom and peace.

Opening the editorial entitled “Vietnam strengthens relations with Latin America”, NotiMass Guerrero - one of the newspapers with the largest readership in the southern region of Mexico - affirmed that the understanding and contact between Vietnam and Latin American countries were recorded as early as the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when Vietnam was still under colonial slavery while most Latin American nations had just gained independence.

During this period, NotiMass Guerrero recalled that during the process of President Ho Chi Minh traveling around five continents to find a way for national salvation, in 1912, he stopped at Martinique Island in the Caribbean, in Uruguay and Argentina. This was the foundation for Ho Chi Minh to sow the first seeds of solidarity, friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Latin American countries.

Building on that foundation, in the 60s and 70s of the 20th century, amid the flames of Vietnam's struggle for national liberation and reunification, Latin American people organized movements to protest the Vietnam War, as well as expressed their enthusiastic support for the just struggle for independence and freedom of the Vietnamese people, thereby contributing to the formation of a people's front around the world in support of Vietnam.

Also during these years, according to NotiMass Guerrero, Vietnam established diplomatic ties with Cuba in 1960, Chile in 1971 and Argentina in 1973. Immediately after that, during the first 5 years after the country's reunification (1975-1980), Vietnam set up diplomatic relations with 10 Latin American nations.

This was also the period when Vietnam stood side by side with its Latin American countries in the struggles for independence, democracy and social progress.

For their part, Latin American countries not only strongly supported Vietnam's entry into the United Nations in 1977, but also assisted the nation in overcoming the consequences of war, expanding foreign relations, and opposing blockades and embargoes.

Since Vietnam launched the Doi Moi (renwal) process in 1986, relations between Vietnam and Latin American countries have entered a new, stronger and more comprehensive stage of development.

Vietnam has so far established diplomatic relations with all 33 countries in Latin America.

Reagarding economic and trade relations, NotiMass Guerrero said that in the context of the world economy in general, as well as that of Vietnam and Latin American countries in particular, experiencing many fluctuations, bilateral trade between Vietnam and Latin America continues to maintain an encouraging growth momentum.

Over the past two decades, Vietnam-Latin America trade turnover increased 67 times, from US$ 300 million in 2000 to US$ 23 billion in 2022.

The nation has implemented a series of investment projects in this region of 650 million people, including strategic sectors such as energy, oil and gas exploitation and telecommunications. Notably, in addition to the markets with the leading exchange turnover in the region such as Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Chile, many emerging markets such as Panama, Colombia, Peru have become bright spots in Vietnam's trade exchange with Latin America.

Concerning investment, Vietnam continues to carrying out a number of important investment projects in Latin America capitalized at hundreds of millions of US$, typically telecommunications network development projects of Viettel Group in Peru and Haiti, and projects on infrastructure development, and consumer goods production run by Viglacera Corporation and Thai Binh Company in Cuba.

On the other hand, as many as 21 Latin American nations are investing in Vietnam with 114 projects, with a total registered investment capital of roughly US$ 671 million.

Vietnam and its Latin American partners are also effectively implementing trade agreements to create leverage for economic, trade and investment relations, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) of which Vietnam, Mexico, Chile and Peru are members; the Vietnam-Chile Free Trade Agreement (VCFTA) or the Vietnam-Cuba Trade Agreement.