The signing of the agreement was witnessed by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his Luxembourg counterpart Xavier Bettel who is in Hanoi for an official visit to Vietnam from May 3-5.

Both Chinh and Bettel hailed the establishment of the strategic partnership on green finance between the two countries’ Ministries of Finance, which they said is a new pillar of cooperation that contributes to deepening the Vietnam-Luxembourg relations.

On this occasion, he suggested that Luxembourg continue to grant its official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam’s financial and banking services.

During their talks, the two PMs agreed that Vietnam and Luxembourg will work closely to effectively implement existing cooperation mechanisms and initiate new cooperation mechanisms suitable to their potential and needs of cooperation and development.

They agreed to fully and effectively implement the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and promote the construction of logistics centres and bonded warehouse systems in each country.

Chinh highly appreciated the positive developments in economic and trade exchanges between the two countries, especially in the field of investment when Luxembourg is the third largest European investor in Vietnam with total investment capital of US$2.6 billion.

He also welcomed a delegation of Luxembourg’s leading businesses specializing in finance, banking, logistics, and energy to Vietnam during Bettel’s visit to sound out cooperation opportunities in the country.

Bettel for his part said Luxembourg would encourage other EU member states to soon ratify the EU – Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), support EU – Vietnam cooperation in sustainable fishing development, and back the European Commission (EC) to soon remove the IUU yellow card for Vietnamese seafood imported into the bloc.

The two sides also agreed to strengthen cooperation in other fields such as culture, science - technology, information and communication technology, people-to-people exchanges, tourism, and climate change response.

Better assured his host that Luxembourg will increase scholarships for Vietnamese students to study at its institutions.

Chinh asked Luxembourg to continue creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community to successfully integrate and contribute to socio-economic development in their host country.

Exchanging views on regional and international issues of mutual concern, the two sides affirmed their continued coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums and international organizations such as the ASEAN-EU cooperation framework, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and the United Nations, especially when the two countries are members of the UN Human Rights Council.

They reaffirmed the importance of ensuring peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea, and settling disputes by peaceful means in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). They also voiced their support for the early adoption of the Code of Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (COC) in line with international law.

Source: VOV