A precious relationship with Brazil and President Lula da Silva

Chairman of the Vietnam-Brazil Friendship and Cooperation Association Nguyen Van Lang. (Source: NVCC)

On the occasion of the upcoming State visit to Vietnam by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (March 27-29), Chairman of the Vietnam-Brazil Friendship and Cooperation Association Nguyen Van Lang gave an interview to The Gioi va Viet Nam Newspaper, highlighting his expectations for the visit as well as his affection for this beautiful Latin American country.

The State visit to Vietnam by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took place just four months after the two countries upgraded their relations to a Strategic Partnership during Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit to attend the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro. How do you feel about the positive signals of Vietnam-Brazil relations in recent times?

The members of the Vietnam-Brazil Friendship and Cooperation Association and I are very excited to welcome the visit of Brazilian President Lula da Silva. The visit takes place when the two countries have just celebrated the 35th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations last year (May 8, 1989 - May 8, 2024) and have just upgraded their relationship to a strategic partnership. Therefore, this is the time for both sides to promote many bilateral friendship and cooperation activities and international issues.

In the face of these particularly important events, I feel happy, excited, and have greater motivation and responsibility when the Vietnam-Brazil Friendship and Cooperation Association takes on additional people-to-people diplomacy tasks with a new approach.

However, with the determination of leaders at all levels as well as the increasingly strong friendship between the people of the two countries, we firmly believe that the Vietnam-Brazil relationship will have strong developments in the future, worthy of the framework of Strategic Partnership.

Launching ceremony of the Portuguese - Vietnamese Dictionary in September 2023. (Source: NVCC)

As Chairman of the Vietnam-Brazil Friendship and Cooperation Association, which acts as a bridge to promote relations between the people, organizations and businesses of the two countries, can you share the "fate" that makes you attached to this Latin American country?

It can be said that I have a special relationship with the country, the people of Brazil and personally with President Lula da Silva.

In 1975, right after graduating from the Vietnam Forestry University, I went to work in Dak Lak. Having been attached to this Central Highlands land for 30 years, I love the agriculture here, especially coffee. Many times in my position as Vice Chairman of the Dak Lak Provincial People's Committee, I was sent to visit and attend conferences of the International Coffee Organization (ICO).

After Brazil decided to establish an embassy in Hanoi (in 1994), I met and invited the Ambassador to visit Buon Ma Thuot and Trung Nguyen Coffee Company. When the Ambassador came to Buon Ma Thuot, I and Trung Nguyen Company Director Dang Le Nguyen Vu welcomed him, took him to visit coffee growing and processing areas and to try Buon Ma Thuot coffee.

In 2002, I was authorized by the Prime Minister to go to Rio De Janeiro to attend the ICO Conference. At that time, Mr. Lula da Silva had just been elected President of Brazil and had not yet been sworn in. One day, while having breakfast with the delegation at the hotel, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Brazil in charge of coffee came to inform the Vietnamese delegation about the presence of President-elect Lula da Silva at the Conference and asked if I and the delegation would like to meet to discuss. We were extremely happy and accepted the offer to meet Mr. Lula da Silva.

The meeting lasted about 45 minutes and took place in a friendly, sincere and open atmosphere. Mr. Lula da Silva asked many questions about Vietnamese coffee and also frankly expressed his concerns that the "overheated" development of Vietnamese coffee could affect global coffee prices. I explained to him the development and differences in types, acreage and production of Vietnamese coffee.

The exchange lasted less than an hour, but I absorbed and learned many things from Mr. Lula da Silva's friendly sharing. The Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival and some Vietnamese coffee technologies were deployed after that useful business trip.

In 2010, the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO) decided to establish the Vietnam-Brazil Friendship and Cooperation Association. Vietnamese Ambassadors to Brazil Nguyen Van Huynh (term 2002-2006) and Nguyen Thac Dinh (term 2006-2010) invited me to join the founding and proposed that the Central Committee assign me to run for the first President of the Association.

In 2016, I, along with the Brazilian Ambassador and President of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences Nguyen Xuan Thang, co-chaired the successful Vietnam-Brazil Economic Cooperation Workshop with many Brazilian businesses attending and then deciding to invest and do business in Vietnam.

Over the years, the Vietnam-Brazil Friendship and Cooperation Association's leadership and I have established organizations within the association such as the Vietnam-Brazil Business Club, the Portuguese-speaking Club at Hanoi University, the Club of Vietnamese people who have worked and studied in Brazil, etc.

In particular, the Association has initiated the compilation of the first Portuguese-Vietnamese Dictionary in Vietnam. It was an honor that 4 months ago, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh brought 40 copies of this dictionary to Brazil as a gift.

Another very special thing is that the person who contributed greatly in both the organization and finance of this Portuguese-Vietnamese Dictionary is President Lula da Silva. After the dictionary was launched, through the two Ambassadors of the two countries, he sent me his thanks and I sent him a dictionary with my handwriting and signature along with a short handwritten letter.

Launching ceremony of the Club of Vietnamese people who have worked and studied in Brazil. (Source: NVCC)

Your business trips to the faraway country of Brazil must have left you with many memories?

Over the past 20 years I have been to Brazil 6 times in different positions and have many memorable memories…

Every time I visit, I organize a meeting to invite prestigious overseas Vietnamese in the Vietnamese community, who have made a very positive contribution to the friendship between the two countries. One example is Prof. Nguyen Van Tung - a famous Vietnamese professor who was an advisor to the President of Brazil. He is a senior lecturer at the University of Sao Paulo and Director of the Postgraduate Training Center and was once invited to teach in Vietnam. Or Mr. Thai Quang Nghia, also known as "Nghia Guoc" - Chairman and General Director of Gooc Raiz Company, operating in the field of manufacturing and trading footwear, handbags and textiles. Gooc Raiz Company has a solid position in the Brazilian market and the company's footwear products have been promoted by the king of football, Pele.

Another unforgettable memory was in 2008, when I led a delegation from the Vietnam-Brazil Friendship and Cooperation Association, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Vietnam Trade Office in Brazil to visit and organize a trade promotion workshop with more than 50 Brazilian enterprises in Sao Paulo.

I did not go with the group because I had just finished my previous trip to Silicon Valley (USA). The flight to Sao Paulo was delayed and my suitcase was lost, so I had to rush to the conference while everyone was waiting anxiously. Luckily, the conference went well and I received my luggage the next day.

There are so many memories to talk about, I could write a whole book about memories in Brazil...

Friendship meeting to celebrate 30 years of Vietnam-Brazil diplomatic relations in Hanoi, May 2019. (Source: NVCC)

How do you assess the importance of people-to-people diplomacy in the overall Vietnam-Brazil Strategic Partnership?

People's diplomacy is one of the three important pillars of the diplomatic strategy that the Party and State of Vietnam have built over the past 80 years.

With increasingly open new policy mechanisms, people-to-people diplomacy has created many opportunities for propaganda activities to promote traditional culture, cooperation potential, as well as access and exchange between individuals, socio-political organizations, religions and businessmen.

Tourism, sports, seminars, talks, exchanges and cultural interactions are easy channels for everyone to access and create widespread effectiveness.

In fact, 15 years of establishment and operation with many achievements of the Vietnam-Brazil Friendship and Cooperation Association have proven the effectiveness and importance of people's diplomacy in the overall Vietnam-Brazil relationship.

In the coming time, what plans does the Vietnam-Brazil Friendship and Cooperation Association have to create breakthrough developments in people-to-people diplomacy, making an important contribution to promoting the relationship between the two countries to the level of a Strategic Partnership?

The Association's leadership met at the end of December 2024 and passed a resolution to prepare for the 3rd congress, which included major policies for the organization's main activities.

We believe that this is the best and most ripe time for activities to promote bilateral cooperation, especially the activities to celebrate the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations last year and now the visit of Brazilian President Lula da Silva.

In addition, the Association will also focus on promoting economic cooperation, joining hands towards the goal of increasing two-way trade turnover to 15 billion USD by 2030 according to the Joint Statement upgrading relations to a Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and Brazil last year.

The area that the Association focuses on most is agriculture because of the many similarities between the two countries. At the same time, the Association plans to promote cooperation in the field of renewable energy conversion, especially Ethanol; agricultural and food processing; promote scientific and technological cooperation, including urging support for cooperation between Hoa Lac High-Tech Park and Sao Paulo Technology Park, which signed a MoU in 2012; calling for Vietnamese investors to invest in Brazil and vice versa; promoting cultural, sports and tourism cooperation; building a Vietnam-Brazil Investment Promotion Center in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City...

Thank you!

Chairman of the Vietnam-Brazil Friendship and Cooperation Association Nguyen Van Lang has many memories of the beautiful country of Brazil. (Source: dulichviet)

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/moi-luong-duyen-dang-quy-voi-dat-nuoc-brazil-va-tong-thong-lula-da-silva-308815.html