OVs in Belgium, Luxembourg look toward stronger EU-Vietnam ties
VOV.VN - More than 50 overseas Vietnamese in Belgium and Luxembourg gathered for a meeting held on February 11 in Brussels to celebrate the Lunar New Year festival or Tet.
During the meeting, Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg Nguyen Van Thao bfrifed the participants on Vietnam’s achievements in recent times, while highlighting contributions of the OVs in multiple fields.
As many as 5.3 million Vietnamese nationals who are living abroad, of whom 13,000 stay in Belgium and Luxembourg, is an inseparable part of the nation, he emphasized.
Earlier, the Vietnamese Embassy hosted a meeting with officials and representatives from businesses of the European Union (EU), Belgium and Luxembourg, and from some friendship organisations.
Ambassador Thao, who is also head of the Vietnamese delegation to Belgium and the EU, reviewed Vietnam’s socio-economic achievements in 2021, particularly in the COVID-19 fight and economic recovery.
Thao underlined the need to step up coordination to maintain the momentum along with collaboration in new areas such as climate change adaptation, digital transformation and innovation, as well as culture, education and people-to-people exchange as there is plenty of room for broader cooperation in the time ahead.
Gunnar Wiegand, Managing Director for Asia and Pacific at the European External Action Service; and Andries Gryffroy, First Vice President of the Senate of Belgium and President of the Belgium-Vietnam Alliance, lauded the efforts and outcomes of Vietnam in carrying out socio-economic targets in 2021, notably in the fight against COVID-19 with a high vaccination rate.
They hailed Vietnam’s role, position and relations with the country, affirming their wish to augment cooperation with Vietnam in the coming time towards recovery in the post-pandemic period and sustainable development.
Despite the negative impacts of COVID-19, Vietnam-EU trade turnover reached US$ 63.6 billion in 2021, marking a year-on-year rise of 15%. Vietnam became the 15th leading trade partner of the EU and the largest one in ASEAN.
Belgium remained among major partners of Vietnam in the EU with new investment projects on renewable energy.