Solidarity between Vietnam and Latin America stems from similarities

On the occasion of President Luong Cuong's official visit to the Republic of Chile, the Republic of Peru and attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit Week in Peru, Mexico's NotiMass Guerrero newspaper reviewed memorable milestones in the traditional relationship between Vietnam and the brotherly Latin American countries, emphasizing that, despite the ocean separation, this is a solidarity rooted in the similarity in the history of the struggle for national liberation and the love of freedom and peace.

Welcoming ceremony for President Luong Cuong at Santiago International Airport. (Photo: Lam Khanh/VNA)

According to VNA, opening the editorial "Vietnam strengthens relations with Latin America", NotiMass Guerrero - one of the newspapers with the largest readership in the southern region of Mexico - affirmed that understanding and contact between Vietnam and Latin American countries were recorded as early as the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the 60s and 70s of the 20th century, amid the fire of Vietnam's struggle for national liberation and reunification, Latin American people organized movements to protest the Vietnam War, as well as always expressed enthusiastic support for the just struggle for independence and freedom of the Vietnamese people, thereby contributing to the formation of a people's front around the world supporting Vietnam. Also during these years, Vietnam established diplomatic relations with Cuba, Chile and Argentina. Immediately after that, in the first 5 years after the country's reunification, Vietnam established diplomatic relations with 10 Latin American countries, standing side by side with Latin American brothers in the struggle for independence, democracy and social progress. For their part, not only did Latin American countries strongly support Vietnam's entry into the United Nations in 1977, they also assisted Vietnam in overcoming the consequences of war, expanding foreign relations and opposing blockades and embargoes. Since Vietnam launched the Doi Moi process in 1986, relations between Vietnam and Latin American countries have entered a new, stronger and more comprehensive stage of development. To date, Vietnam has established diplomatic relations with all 33 countries in the Latin American region. Referring to economic and trade relations, NotiMass Guerrero said that despite many fluctuations, bilateral trade between Vietnam and Latin America continues to maintain an encouraging growth momentum. Vietnam-Latin America trade turnover has increased from 300 million USD in 2000 to 23 billion USD in 2022. Vietnam has implemented a series of investment projects in this region of 650 million people, including strategic sectors such as energy, oil and gas exploitation and telecommunications. In addition to the leading markets in the region such as Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile..., many emerging markets such as Panama, Colombia, Peru are becoming bright spots in Vietnam's trade with Latin America. Regarding investment, Vietnam continues to implement a number of important investment projects in Latin America with capital of hundreds of millions of USD, typically the telecommunications network development projects of Viettel Group in Peru and Haiti, projects of Viglacera Corporation and Thai Binh Company in Cuba in the fields of infrastructure, consumer goods production... Currently, Latin America has 21 countries investing in Vietnam with 114 projects, total registered investment capital of about 671 million USD. Vietnam and Latin American partners are also effectively implementing trade agreements to create leverage for economic, trade and investment relations, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Source: https://nhandan.vn/tinh-doan-ket-giua-viet-nam-va-khu-vuc-my-latin-bat-nguon-tu-su-tuong-dong-post844200.html