Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's official visit to the Dominican Republic from November 19 to 21, 2024 is an important milestone contributing to making the two countries' cooperation more and more effective.
Following the working trip to attend the G20 Summit and conduct a number of bilateral activities in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his wife, along with a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, will pay an official visit to the Dominican Republic from November 19 to 21, 2024 at the invitation of President of the Dominican Republic Luis Rodolfo Abinader Corona and his wife.
This is the first visit by a senior Vietnamese leader to the Dominican Republic, taking place in the context of the two countries looking towards the 20th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations (July 7, 2005 - July 7, 2025).
The visit demonstrates Vietnam's respect and desire to continue to strengthen and deepen the fine solidarity, friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and the Dominican Republic.
Political and diplomatic relations are always strengthened.
Going back in history, in 1965, President Ho Chi Minh met with revolutionary, Professor Juan Bosch, the first President of the democratic Dominican Republic, when he visited Hanoi to attend the Conference of Latin American countries in solidarity with Vietnam, laying the foundation for the solidarity and friendship between the two countries. The two countries officially established diplomatic relations at the Ambassadorial level on July 7, 2005.
In the nearly 20 years since the two countries established diplomatic relations, the relationship between the two countries has recorded good results in the fields of politics-diplomacy, economics-trade, agriculture, culture, science, technology, etc.
In October 2021, the Dominican Republic appointed a resident Ambassador and opened an Embassy office in Hanoi in February 2023, marking an important milestone in promoting increasingly effective and substantive development of bilateral relations.
In July 2024, the National Assembly of the Dominican Republic established the Dominican-Vietnamese Parliamentary Friendship Group and it came into operation on August 16, 2024.
On the Dominican Republic side, there were visits to Vietnam by: Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso (August 2007); General Secretary of the United Left Movement (MIU), Minister of Integration Policy Miguel Mejia visited Vietnam 9 times (1997, 2005, 2007, February 2012, January 2014, August 2018, December 2019, February 2023, June 2024) and attended the inauguration ceremony of the statue of Professor Juan Bosch - writer, thinker, fighter for the liberation of the Dominican Republic and Latin America, first President of the Dominican Republic - at Hoa Binh Park, Hanoi (August 2018); Minister of Agriculture Limber Cruz (June 2024); MIU Party Foreign Affairs Secretary Martha Perez delegation visits General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (July 2024)...
The two countries maintain regular delegation exchanges. Notably, on the Vietnamese side, there were visits to the Dominican Republic by Deputy Foreign Minister Ha Kim Ngoc to conduct the first Political Consultation (May 2014); Deputy Head of the Foreign Affairs Committee Tran Dac Loi visited and attended the inauguration ceremony of the Ho Chi Minh Monument in the capital Santo Domingo (March 2013); General Director of the Vietnam News Agency Nguyen Duc Loi paid a working visit (July 2018); Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central Internal Affairs Committee Phan Dinh Trac (May 2019); Deputy Minister Nguyen Minh Vu attended the 9th Foreign Ministers' Conference, the 20th Senior Officials' Conference and related meetings of the FEALAC Forum in Santo Domingo (November 2019); Chairman of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee Vu Hai Ha (July 2024)...
The two sides held the First Session of the Political Consultation Mechanism between the two Foreign Ministries (May 2014).
In particular, the relationship between the Communist Party of Vietnam and political parties in the Dominican Republic, including the United Left Movement (MIU), is very good, contributing to consolidating an important political foundation, supporting and promoting areas of cooperation with great potential between the two countries; actively supporting and assisting each other in multilateral forums.
The two sides maintain coordination and cooperation at international forums and organizations of which both countries are members such as the United Nations, the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC), the World Trade Organization (WTO), etc.
The Dominican Republic supports Vietnam's candidacy to the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2014-2016 term and the United Nations Security Council for the 2020-2021 term; Vietnam supports the Dominican Republic's candidacy to the International Civil Aviation Organization - ICAO for the 2013-2016 term and the United Nations Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Affairs - ACABQ for the 2017-2019 term.
Economic and trade relations have many developments.
Although economic and trade relations between the two countries account for a low proportion of each country's total trade, they have recorded rapid development.
Accordingly, two-way trade turnover has increased from 36.5 million USD in 2013 to nearly 150.2 million USD in 2022; 95.8 million USD in 2023; 56 million USD in the first 9 months of 2024. This figure is expected to increase further.
The Dominican Republic highly appreciates Vietnam's achievements and position in serving as a bridge to Southeast Asia and Asia, and wishes to further promote bilateral relations with Vietnam, especially cooperation in potential areas such as telecommunications (with Viettel), energy, oil and gas (with PVN), construction materials production and export processing zone business (with Viglacera), and electric vehicle distribution (with Vinfast).
The two sides also actively exploited many similarities and complementarities to enhance experience exchange and cooperation in science and technology, agriculture and animal husbandry.
Notably, in June 2024, the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Dominican Republic was signed during the visit of Minister of Agriculture Limper Lucas to Vietnam.
In addition, the two sides have also signed many cooperation agreements such as the Visa Exemption Agreement for Diplomatic and Official Passports, the Political Consultation Agreement between the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs (September 2007) (the first Political Consultation Session was held in the Dominican Republic in May 2014); signed the Letter of Intent on signing the Science-Technology and Tourism Cooperation Agreements (November 2008); Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the two Ministries of Agriculture (June 2024); are discussing the possibility of negotiating cooperation agreements on tourism, investment promotion and protection, science-technology, etc.
The Dominican Republic has been one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America and the Caribbean since 2010, with the construction of industrial park infrastructure, mining, energy-oil and gas, tourism, agriculture, telecommunications, production and distribution of electric vehicles, and digital transformation in the finance-banking sector being major contributors to the economy and being prioritized for investment attraction.
Vietnam and the Dominican Republic have much room and potential for economic-trade and investment cooperation in the fields of agriculture, tourism and science and technology.
In the coming time, the two sides determined to continue exploiting and promoting existing agreements with the aim of bringing goods from both countries to penetrate each other's markets, including the Asian and American markets. In addition, actively promoting trade and investment through fairs, exhibitions and investment forums to connect businesses and localities of the two countries to exchange information on cooperation opportunities; creating conditions to further stimulate the development of the tourism sector.
Vietnamese businesses investing in countries in the Latin American-Caribbean region wish to take advantage of market access opportunities in the Dominican Republic and from there expand to other markets in the region.
Creating momentum to promote Vietnam-Dominican Republic relations
Building on the good relations over the past time, the official visit to the Dominican Republic by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his wife, along with a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation from November 19 to 21, 2024, is an important milestone contributing to making the cooperation between the two countries more and more effective.
According to Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Thanh Binh, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's official visit to the Dominican Republic demonstrates Vietnam's respect and desire to continue to consolidate and deepen the fine solidarity, friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and the Dominican Republic, towards the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries (July 7, 2005 - July 7, 2025).
According to the Deputy Minister, the Vietnam-Dominican Republic relationship has seen many positive new developments in recent times. The two sides maintain regular delegation exchanges. Economic and trade relations have grown rapidly. The two countries still have much potential and room for cooperation in many fields.
Deputy Minister Pham Thanh Binh said the visit affirms Vietnam's foreign policy of attaching importance to strengthening friendship and cooperation with the Latin American-Caribbean region for peace and development.
The visit will create momentum to promote the expansion of economic, trade and investment relations between Vietnam and the Dominican Republic, especially in potential areas such as agriculture, industry, construction materials production, export processing zone business, energy-oil and gas, telecommunications and tourism./.
Source: https://baolangson.vn/thuc-day-quan-he-doan-ket-huu-nghi-viet-nam-cong-hoa-dominicana-5028974.html
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