Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received Romanian Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism Stefan-Radu Oprea in Hanoi on November 20, who is in Vietnam for the 17th session of the Vietnam-Romania Joint Committee on Economic Cooperation.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (right) and Romanian Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism Stefan-Radu Oprea at the event (Photo: NDO)

The PM thanked Romania as the rotating President of the European Union (EU) in 2019 for its support in promoting the conclusion and signing of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA). He also thanked Romania for donating 300,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Vietnam in 2021 and for creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community to stabilise their lives and do business in Romania.

Both host and guest were delighted at the growing relations between Vietnam and Romania in many aspects, such as politics, diplomacy, economics, labour, education-training and culture. Two-way trade turnover hit 425 million USD in 2022, up 14.8% from the previous year.

Vietnam always attaches important to and prioritises its traditional friendship with Romania, Chinh said. In the coming time, along with increasing the exchange of all-level delegations on all channels of the Party, State, Government and National Assembly and people-to-people exchanges, he suggested that the two sides need to determine economic - investment - trade cooperation as an important pillar in the bilateral ties.

The two sides should effectively take advantage of the EVFTA, opening markets for each other's goods, strengthen the exchange of business delegations, attract investment in fields that Vietnam needs and Romania is strong, such as mechanics, specialised machinery, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, and automobile manufacturing, renewable energy, mining and petrochemical, he went on.

PM Chinh proposed that Romania open its market for Vietnamese goods, especially agricultural and aquatic products such as shrimp, fish, coffee and fruits.

He also suggested Romania encourage other EU member countries to soon ratify the EVIPA and urge the European Commission (EC) to soon remove the "yellow card" warning on its seafood. He also called for promoting cooperation in green transision, circular economy development and climate change response, strengthening collaboration in labour, employment, education - training, culture and tourism.

Agreeing with the PM's proposals, Minister Oprea said that during the ongoing Vietnam visit, the Romanian delegation, with the participation of a number of sectors and enterprises, wishes to explore cooperation with Vietnam in the fields of oil and gas, agriculture, information technology, pharmaceuticals and tourism to realise agreements and commitments between Vietnam and the EU and with Romania.

Romania is ready to be a gateway for Vietnamese goods to enter Europe, he added.

The same day, Tran Tuan Anh, Chairman of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission, received Minister Oprea, during which he emphasised that ample room remains for cooperation between Vietnam and Romania.

Anh suggested that Oprea pay attention to promoting collaboration between the two countries in some orientations such as boosting bilateral economic, trade and investment cooperation, green transition, circular economy and climate change adaptation, developing high technology, digital transformation and innovation as well as labour, culture and tourism fields.

For his part, Oprea affirmed that Romania will make efforts to further promote cooperation in all aspects with Vietnam, especially in economics, trade and tourism, people-to-people exchanges to match with the momentum of development of relations between the two countries.