Brazilian President Lula da Silva visits Vietnam: Concretizing the Strategic Partnership, opening up opportunities for multilateral cooperation

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh pose for a photo before their talks in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 2024. (Photo: Duong Giang)

That was the comment of Vietnamese Ambassador to Brazil Bui Van Nghi in an interview with The Gioi va Viet Nam Newspaper ahead of the State visit to Vietnam by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (from March 27-29) at the invitation of President Luong Cuong.

The State visit to Vietnam by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took place just four months after the two countries upgraded their strategic partnership in November 2024. Could you please tell us about the significance of this special visit to the Latin American Strategic Partnership, which is half a world away from us?

The visit of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is of special significance to Vietnam-Brazil relations, demonstrating the Brazilian government's deep interest in the Asian region, including Vietnam.

This is an important milestone in bilateral relations, taking place in the context of the two countries upgrading their relationship to a Strategic Partnership during Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit to Brazil in November 2024. This is also the first visit by a senior Brazilian leader to Vietnam in 17 years, demonstrating the strong commitment of both sides to deepening the Strategic Partnership.

This visit will create a strong momentum to bring bilateral relations to a new height, and is an opportunity for leaders of the two countries to exchange and discuss specific measures to realize the Strategic Partnership.

The cooperation contents are expected to be substantive, in-depth and effective in many areas such as politics - security, economics - trade - investment, science - technology - innovation, culture - society and climate change. The agreements reached during the visit will create an important foundation to promote sustainable and comprehensive bilateral cooperation in the coming time.

Besides, the visit reflects Vietnam's proactive and positive foreign policy in strengthening, diversifying and multilateralizing relations with regional and global partners.

Brazil is not only the largest economy in Latin America but also Vietnam's first strategic partner in the region. Promoting the enhancement of mutually beneficial relations with Brazil will contribute to consolidating and enhancing Vietnam's position and prestige in Latin America, creating more opportunities for cooperation between southern countries on bilateral and multilateral levels, especially in the current complicated situation.

In addition, Vietnam and Brazil are both active members of regional multilateral organizations such as ASEAN and MERCOSUR. This visit not only creates opportunities for the two countries to penetrate deeper into each other’s regional markets but also lays the foundation for promoting cooperation between ASEAN and MERCOSUR in the future. This will help strengthen economic links between Southeast Asia and South America, while enhancing the position of both Vietnam and Brazil in the international arena.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Brazil Bui Van Nghi. (Source: Vietnamese Embassy in Brazil)

What are the highlights of President Lula da Silva's upcoming visit? What are the Ambassador's expectations for this visit?

The upcoming visit of President Lula da Silva is an important and historic event in the relationship between Vietnam and Brazil.

This is a remarkable milestone in the implementation of Vietnam's foreign policies, especially within the framework of the 13th National Congress Resolution and the Project "Developing relations between Vietnam and Latin American countries for the 2022-2026 period".

This visit not only strengthens the cooperative relationship between the two countries but also affirms Vietnam's commitment to promoting relations with important partners in the Latin American region, of which Brazil is a strategic partner.

One of the highlights of the visit was the Joint Statement on specific actions and the content of the Vietnam-Brazil Strategic Partnership and the exchange of development orientations in areas with great potential such as security - defense, economics - trade - investment, science - technology - innovation, culture - society and climate change. These agreements not only promote economic cooperation but also create a solid legal basis for long-term and effective cooperation programs between the two countries.

This visit will also be an opportunity for the two sides to discuss measures to enhance trade and investment cooperation and expand the market. We hope that Brazil will soon recognize Vietnam's market economy status, initiate and quickly negotiate and sign the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Vietnam and MERCOSUR, thereby creating favorable conditions for the development of trade and investment in the future.

In addition to economic and trade agreements, the visit will also open up opportunities for cooperation in other areas such as tourism, aviation, seaports and logistics, where both countries have great potential but have not been fully exploited. Promoting cooperation in these areas will bring many opportunities for development in the future.

In the current world context, when countries face many challenges in security and sustainable development, cooperation between Vietnam and Brazil not only brings benefits to both sides but also contributes to solving global problems. The two countries can cooperate to promote environmental protection initiatives, maintain peace and sustainable development.

This visit will mark a new stage in the cooperation between Vietnam and Brazil, creating a solid foundation for a strong, sustainable, substantive and effective development of the relationship. This will not only meet the aspirations of the people of the two countries but also enhance the position and prestige of both countries in the international arena, contributing to the stability and common prosperity of the region and the world.

Vietnam-Brazil Business Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 2024. (Photo: Nguyen Hong)

The Joint Statement on Upgrading the Vietnam-Brazil Strategic Partnership includes 15 points with major principles and orientations. So how have the two countries been implementing the contents of this new framework?

Regarding the implementation of the Joint Statement on upgrading the Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and Brazil, I would like to emphasize that the two countries are actively realizing the agreed principles and major orientations, aiming to develop bilateral relations more substantially, effectively and comprehensively.

First of all, in the political and diplomatic fields, the two countries regularly maintain high-level contacts, exchange delegations at all levels and increase mutual consultation at multilateral forums such as the United Nations, G20, WTO, ASEAN - MERCOSUR.

The two sides are also closely coordinating to promote bilateral dialogue mechanisms, including the Political Dialogue at the Deputy Foreign Minister level and the Vietnam-Brazil Joint Commission, towards upgrading to the Political Dialogue at the Foreign Minister level and the meeting of the Vietnam-Brazil Intergovernmental Joint Commission.

In terms of economy and trade , the two countries are implementing many measures to realize the goal of increasing bilateral trade turnover to 10 billion USD by 2025 and 15 billion USD by 2030. Vietnam and Brazil have been promoting cooperation in areas of strength such as agriculture, food processing, manufacturing industry and renewable energy.

One of the major priorities now is to promote negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the MERCOSUR bloc to remove barriers and create more favorable conditions for businesses of the two countries to expand their markets.

In the field of defense and security , the two sides continue to increase delegation exchanges and share experiences in preventing transnational crimes, cyber security, United Nations peacekeeping, and cooperation in the defense industry.

In addition, cooperation in science and technology, innovation, artificial intelligence and climate change response are also focuses in the bilateral relationship. Vietnam and Brazil are promoting joint research cooperation programs, exchanging experts and experiences in high-tech development, clean energy, as well as environmental protection and sustainable development initiatives.

In addition, cooperation in education, culture, sports and people-to-people exchanges is also increasingly being paid attention to. The two countries are implementing many student exchange programs, cooperation between universities and promoting mutual culture through annual events such as the Vietnam Cultural Week in Brazil and sports and tourism activities.

With the foundation of a Strategic Partnership, Vietnam and Brazil are taking strong and concrete steps to elevate bilateral relations, moving towards a period of deeper, more substantive and effective cooperation in all fields.

"In the current world context, when countries face many challenges in security and sustainable development, cooperation between Vietnam and Brazil not only brings benefits to both sides but also contributes to solving global problems. The two countries can cooperate to promote environmental protection initiatives, maintain peace and sustainable development." (Ambassador Bui Van Nghi)

Ambassador Bui Van Nghi works with the Brazil-Vietnam Chamber of Commerce, January 2025. (Source: Vietnamese Embassy in Brazil)

Vietnam and Brazil are committed to striving to increase bilateral trade turnover to 10 billion USD by 2025 and 15 billion USD by 2030. Could you share the Embassy's plan to promote trade, connect businesses, and contribute to realizing this goal?

Regarding the plan to realize the goal of increasing Vietnam-Brazil trade turnover to 10 billion USD by 2025 and 15 billion USD by 2030, I affirm that I will synchronously implement many measures to promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Brazil has coordinated with domestic agencies to organize activities to promote economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. After upgrading the relationship to a Strategic Partnership, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended the G20 Summit in Brazil and met with major enterprises such as EMBRAER, MK Group, JBS.SA, Oceanside One Trading and attended the Vietnam-Brazil Business Forum.

In December 2024, the Embassy organized the "Vietnam-Brazil Business Meeting" event to summarize economic cooperation and share information on Vietnam's economic development situation.

In addition, the Embassy also organized working trips to Brazilian states, such as Espirito Santo, to explore cooperation opportunities and promote the export of key Vietnamese products, while promoting the introduction of Brazilian plant and animal varieties into production in Vietnam, such as quail and peach palm.

The Ambassador and Embassy staff actively met and worked with the legislative body, together with the Brazilian side, to discuss and promote the development of Vietnam-Brazil and regional relations. A series of activities include working with the Permanent Vice President of the Brazilian Senate; speaking at the Opening Ceremony of the Brazil-ASEAN Parliamentary Front; working with MERCOSUR MPs at the House of Representatives to lobby for the negotiation and signing of the Vietnam-MERCOSUR FTA as well as relations between the two countries; working and calling on business associations to support Vietnam's recognition as a market economy, including JBS SA Brazil (the world's largest livestock and poultry meat processing enterprise).

In order to strive to increase bilateral trade turnover to 10 billion USD in 2025, I consider this a task that requires the cooperation and contribution of functional agencies to businesses and corporations. To realize this, I propose the following contents:

First of all, the Embassy will actively mobilize the support of senior officials, business associations, investors, experts and the press to accelerate the negotiation and signing of the FTA between Vietnam and MERCOSUR. This agreement will help remove trade barriers and create more favorable conditions for businesses of the two countries to expand cooperation.

The Embassy will also promote the image of Vietnam through annual events such as seminars on economic and market topics, trade exhibitions and business forums. The organization of business forums, conferences and seminars will be promoted to connect the business communities of the two countries, support Vietnamese businesses to participate in international fairs and exhibitions in Brazil and expand trade and investment cooperation.

In addition, increasing the exchange of high-level delegations also plays an important role in discussing specific measures to expand cooperation in many areas, from trade and investment to high technology, renewable energy and sustainable agriculture.

At the same time, the Embassy will continue to maintain bilateral dialogue mechanisms to update cooperation situations, remove obstacles and promote relations between the two countries.

With the above synchronous measures, the Vietnamese Embassy in Brazil pledges to continue playing an important bridging role, contributing to the strong, sustainable and effective development of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries in the coming time.

Thank you very much Ambassador!

Ambassador Bui Van Nghi works with Governor of Espirito Santo State Renato Casagrande, January 2025. (Source: Vietnamese Embassy in Brazil)

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/tong-thong-brazil-lula-da-silva-tham-viet-nam-cu-the-hoa-doi-tac-chien-luoc-mo-co-hoi-hop-tac-da-phuong-308707.html