By Mustafa Khan
ISLAMABAD: Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Tien Phong has said his country is committed to improving its relationship with Pakistan in all fields, especially trade, education, skills training, culture, and tourism.
“We want to work closely with Pakistani authorities, people, businesses, and other circles for a bright mutual future. When we go together, we will go farther, further and reach faster, closer to the destination of prosperity, progress, and development,” the ambassador told Dateline Islamabad here on Monday.
Mr Phong said as the two countries celebrated the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relations (1972-2022), they should increase people-to-people contacts and cultural, educational, tourism, educational and religious exchanges for better bilateral relations.
He said Vietnam embarked on Doi Moi (innovation) in 1986 with the goal of creating a socialist-oriented market economy and achieved an average annual GDP growth of about seven percent in the last 36 years to stand among the world’s top 40 economies.
The ambassador said his country had high levels of social and economic development, completed ahead of time many 2015 Millennium Development Goals, and was making efforts to implement the United Nations SDG-2030 and COP26 commitments on emission reduction.
He said during the last five decades, Vietnam and Pakistan had developed excellent political, trade, and investment ties, and had technological, cultural, and people-to-people exchanges.
“The trade volume between Pakistan and Vietnam has increased from $54 million in 2005 to more than $700 million in 2017 and reached more than $ 794 million in 2021 with an increase of 54.41% compared to 2020. However, it is still very low compared to the huge potentials of both sides with nearly 330 million people and many other complementary advantages, such as agriculture products, pharmacy, manufacturing industries, garments and textiles, seafood, Halal foods, and many others,” he said.
Mr Phong said the two countries should tap numerous potentials to reach the optimised level of economic transactions and cooperation to benefit their peoples.
He said on the way to progress, Vietnam had always received the support from international community and friends, including Pakistan, and would join hands with Pakistan for further comprehensive cooperation, development, and prosperity of people.
“I always remind myself that I am here with the assignments from our state, party, government, and people to boost up the relations comprehensively and in all fields with Pakistan,” he said.
