PM chairs welcome ceremony for Dutch counterpart

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh welcomes Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the high-ranking Dutch delegation in Hanoi on November 2 (Photo: VNA)

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a welcome ceremony for his visiting Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte in Hanoi on November 2 morning.

This visit, which is taking place when Vietnam and the Netherlands are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relations (1973-2023), is the third by the Dutch PM to Vietnam since he took office in 2010, following PM Chinh’s visit to the Netherlands nine months ago.

After the welcome ceremony, the two PMs enjoyed a photo exhibition featuring the land and people of Vietnam and the growing Vietnam-Netherlands relations before their talks.

Over the past 50 years, the Vietnam-Netherlands relationship has developed strongly across all fields, especially investment, trade, sustainable agriculture and climate change response.

The two sides established their Strategic Partnership on Climate Change and Water Management in 2010, Strategic Partnership on Agriculture and Food Security in 2014 and Comprehensive Partnership in 2019.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte are greeted by Hanoi children (Photo: VNA)

Along with conducting the regular exchange of delegations, especially at high level, the two sides have maintained many bilateral cooperation mechanisms and supported each other at international forums and organisations.

The Netherlands is one of Vietnam’s leading important and time-tested partners. It is currently Vietnam’s biggest investor in the European Union with combined capital of 13.5 billion USD in about 400 projects, and the largest importer of Vietnamese products in Europe, with two-way trade surpassing 11 billion USD. The Netherlands has provided non-refundable aid to many development projects and programmes in Vietnam.

PM Rutte’s visit aims to seek specific measures to realise outcomes of PM Chinh’s visit earlier this year, while promoting bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, finance, science and technology, management science, human resources training, tourism, agriculture, logistics, green transition, and digital transformation.

Alongside, Vietnam and the Netherlands will continue to discuss ways to effectively implement the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), and further promote the development of the EU - ASEAN strategic partnership for peace, stability, and development of the region and the world./.