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| On this occasion, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and Slovenian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the two ministries. (Photo: Tuan Anh) |
The two-day official visit to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi by Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia Tanja Fajon is an important milestone in Vietnam-Slovenia relations.
This is the first visit of a Slovenian Deputy Prime Minister to Vietnam since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1994, in the capacity of Foreign Minister, and the second since the visit of the Slovenian Foreign Minister to Vietnam in 2006. During the visit, Ms. Tanja Fajon met with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh; held talks with Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son; met with Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien; and attended the Vietnam-Slovenia Business Forum in Ho Chi Minh City.
Lots of room for cooperation
In the open and trusting atmosphere of the high-level meetings, both sides expressed their appreciation for the traditional partnership and friendship between Vietnam and Slovenia. Slovenia wants to further promote its relationship with Vietnam and Vietnam wishes to strengthen its multifaceted cooperation with Slovenia.
During his first visit to Vietnam, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Tanja Fajon was particularly impressed by Vietnam's positive socio-economic development achievements in recent times; highly appreciating Vietnam's increasingly important role and position in the region and the world.
The two sides agreed that over the past 30 years, the traditional friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Slovenia has been developing positively in many fields, especially in politics-diplomacy, economy-trade, etc. However, the two countries still have much room to further strengthen bilateral cooperation.
In that spirit, Vietnam and Slovenia agreed on measures to promote cooperation in many potential areas in the coming period. The two sides agreed to increase the exchange of delegations at all levels, especially at high levels in 2024 on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, through State, Government, National Assembly and people-to-people channels; closely coordinate and support each other at multilateral forums and international organizations, including the United Nations, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and the ASEAN-EU cooperation framework.
The two sides also discussed a number of regional and international issues of mutual concern. Regarding the East Sea, the two sides shared the importance of ensuring security, safety, and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea as well as resolving disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
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| Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and Slovenian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon held talks. (Photo: Tuan Anh) |
Economic focus
It can be affirmed that economic goals are the focus of this visit to Vietnam by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Tanja Fajon. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Tanja Fajon is accompanied by a business delegation and Ms. Tanja Fajon's first main activity is to co-chair the Vietnam-Slovenia Business Forum in Ho Chi Minh City. She repeatedly emphasized that Slovenia has an open economy and wants to expand the market in Southeast Asia.
Following that, in high-level exchanges, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Tanja Fajon assessed Vietnam as a dynamically developing economy in Southeast Asia and one of Slovenia’s potential markets in the region; expressed the wish that the two sides promote cooperation in the fields of green technology, renewable energy, environmental protection, seaports, logistics, etc.
In particular, she affirmed that Slovenia will soon ratify the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), urge the EC to soon remove the IUU yellow card for Vietnamese seafood products; and coordinate to prepare for the organization of the third meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee on Economic Cooperation in October 2023 in Slovenia.
For its part, Vietnam emphasized the need for the two sides to closely coordinate to maximize opportunities brought about by the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA); and encourage Slovenia to increase investment in areas in which Vietnam has demand and Slovenia has strengths.
In recent times, despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, economic cooperation between the two countries has continued to maintain positive growth momentum, with two-way trade turnover in 2022 reaching a record of over 570 million USD, an increase of 15% compared to 2021.
Explaining Slovenia’s determination to promote economic cooperation, Vietnamese Ambassador to Austria and Slovenia Nguyen Trung Kien said that Slovenia currently highly values economic cooperation in the context of Europe facing many difficulties such as intra-bloc solidarity, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, Slovenia and other European countries are looking for new markets and turning to Asia-Pacific. They see Vietnam as a very potential market.
Slovenia is finalizing and will soon have an office of the Honorary Consul in Ho Chi Minh City. On the other hand, Vietnam is carrying out the necessary procedures to appoint the Honorary Consul of Vietnam in Slovenia.
| Within the framework of the visit, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and Slovenian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs Tanja Fajon signed a cooperation agreement between the two ministries, creating a legal foundation to promote cooperation in the coming time, contributing to enhancing understanding and political trust between the two countries. |
Efforts to make progress
Next year, the two countries will celebrate the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Ambassador Nguyen Trung Kien commented that 30 years is not a long time, but throughout that journey, the Vietnam-Slovenia relationship has developed very positively in many aspects.
Slovenia itself gained independence in 1994, so it is a young country. Since then, Slovenia has grown very strongly and was elected President of the Council of the European Union (EU). Slovenia is campaigning strongly to become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. In international organizations, Slovenia has shown a very strong and positive position.
According to Ambassador Nguyen Trung Kien, milestones in relations are only meaningful when bilateral relations make substantial progress. Currently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Industry and Trade are working closely together to connect businesses of the two countries and exploit the advantages of bilateral cooperation.
“What I wish for more is an increase in bilateral trade turnover, opening more air routes, ports, increasing the number of investing enterprises... substantive steps forward in the relationship,” Ambassador Nguyen Trung Kien emphasized.
Connecting the traffic route between the port of Koper - a deep-water port with great potential in Slovenia - and Ho Chi Minh City is something the Ambassador is looking forward to in the coming time. If going through the port of Koper, the time to transport goods from Vietnam to Central and Western Europe can be reduced by about seven days compared to going through other ports such as Hamburg and Rotterdam. Therefore, promoting the connection of port traffic will contribute to promoting more substantial results in cooperation between the two countries.
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