Mongolia is one of the countries that established diplomatic relations with Vietnam quite early. The two countries established diplomatic relations on November 17, 1954, making Vietnam the first country in Southeast Asia with which Mongolia established diplomatic relations. Since then, the traditional friendship between the two countries has continuously developed.
President Vo Van Thuong and Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh met with the press in Hanoi on the afternoon of November 1, 2023. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA
During a recent meeting in Hanoi, President Vo Van Thuong and Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh agreed to continue promoting the bilateral relationship to develop substantially and effectively in many fields in accordance with the potential, strengths and needs of each country.
The foundation for traditional friendship
Less than a year after the two countries established diplomatic relations, in July 1955, President Ho Chi Minh led a delegation of the Vietnamese Party and Government to officially visit Mongolia, opening the way for the development of friendly relations between the two countries.
After that, on the path of national construction and development, Vietnam and Mongolia have closely coordinated in many fields, giving each other selfless and pure help. During the period of Vietnam's resistance war against American imperialism, the Mongolian people actively supported and provided many necessities to the Vietnamese people. In response, Vietnam also took many practical actions to help Mongolia such as sending experts to help survey and develop transportation, cultivation, and restore historical relics, etc.
Since then, the relationship has been increasingly strengthened and developed through regular visits and working sessions by senior leaders of the two countries. These visits have made an important contribution to strengthening political relations between Vietnam and Mongolia. Most recently, in early November 2023, Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh and his wife paid a state visit to Vietnam. This was the first official visit to Vietnam and also the first official visit to a Southeast Asian country by President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh since taking office.
During their talks in Hanoi, President Vo Van Thuong and President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh expressed their satisfaction with the traditional friendship between the two countries which is developing well and has achieved a number of new achievements in the fields of politics, defense, security and economy; agreed to continue to promote the bilateral relationship to develop substantially and effectively in many fields in accordance with the potential, strengths and needs of each country. The two sides agreed to continue to increase the exchange of delegations and contacts at all levels through the Party, State, Government and National Assembly channels in many flexible forms; coordinate to implement activities to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2024; promote the effective implementation of bilateral cooperation agreements, thereby contributing to strengthening political trust between the two countries.
Constantly expanding and developing
Not only in the political and diplomatic fields, in recent years, the traditional friendship between Vietnam and Mongolia has developed strongly in many fields, especially economics, education and training.
Specifically, trade turnover between the two countries has grown quite rapidly and reached 85 million USD in 2022. Vietnam mainly exports agricultural products, food, pharmaceuticals, tobacco, coffee, etc. to Mongolia and imports mainly white horse glue, sheep wool carpets, fine goat hair products, leather products, leather gloves, etc. from Mongolia.
Regarding investment, as of September 2023, Mongolia has 4 investment projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital of 1.11 million USD. These projects are not located in industrial parks or economic zones in Vietnam. On the contrary, Vietnam has no official investment projects in Mongolia (except for direct investment projects of Vietnamese people in Mongolia).
During President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh's visit to Vietnam in November 2023, the two sides agreed to strengthen business connection and trade promotion activities in each country; support cooperation in the strategic mineral sector of the two countries; and take advantage of opportunities and strengths of both sides to promote bilateral trade turnover in the coming time.
In addition, the two sides also agreed to continue to promote the effective implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the agricultural sector signed in 2022; welcomed the two sides' agreement on the Form of Quarantine Certificate for Export of Goat and Sheep Meat from Mongolia and the Quarantine Certificate for Export of Poultry Meat and Poultry Products from Vietnam to Mongolia, thereby facilitating the exchange of agricultural products between the two countries; enhance the exchange of experts, transfer of advanced production technology, especially agricultural food production technology to Mongolia.
Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh speaks at a press conference in Hanoi on the afternoon of November 1, 2023. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA
On the other hand, the two countries' senior leaders highly appreciated the relevant organizations on both sides expanding aviation relations, making efforts to promote economic, trade, tourism cooperation and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. The two sides agreed to continue discussing and finding fundamental solutions to remove difficulties in logistics, rail, sea and air transport between the two countries.
Regarding labor cooperation, as of August 2023, there were about 400 Vietnamese workers living in Mongolia, mainly working in auto repair shops. The two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Labor Cooperation in 2017. During the talks in Hanoi in early November 2023, senior leaders of the two countries emphasized the effective implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Vietnam and the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Mongolia (2017) on cooperation in the fields of employment policy, social security, vocational education, social insurance, population development, social policies and services for people with disabilities, gender equality and social welfare; agreed to continue studying the possibility of supplying and receiving labor in the industries and fields that both sides have demand for.
Regarding education and training, the two countries have conducted student exchanges since the 1960s. According to the Agreement on Educational Cooperation for the period 2011-2016, Vietnam annually receives and trains 15 Mongolian students and Mongolia trains 5 Vietnamese students. From 2018, the two sides agreed to increase the quota by 5 and the scholarship level compared to the above agreement. During President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh's visit to Vietnam in November 2023, the two sides agreed to continue to effectively implement the Agreement on Educational Cooperation signed in 2012. The Vietnamese side agreed to actively consider increasing the number of Government scholarships for Mongolia on the basis of the Mongolian President's Scholarship Program Initiative named "Message 2100"./.
Thu Van
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