During the official visit to Vietnam of Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Spain Pedro Sanchez from April 8-10, 2025, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien participated in and accompanied Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at official reception activities including the welcoming ceremony, talks between the Prime Minister of Spain and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, meetings between the Prime Minister of Spain and President Luong Cuong, General Secretary To Lam and Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Thanh Man, and witnessed the handover ceremony of cooperation documents. Deputy Minister Phan Thi Thang attended and spoke at the Vietnam - Spain Business Forum and had a working session with Ms. Amparo Lopez, Secretary of State for Trade, Ministry of Economy , Trade and Entrepreneurship of Spain.
This is the first visit by the Head of the Spanish Government to Vietnam since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1977, and is also the first Prime Minister-level delegation exchange between the two countries in more than 20 years.
Vietnam – Spain Business Forum
Delegates attending the Business Forum
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks at the Forum
The Vietnam - Spain Business Forum was held on April 10, 2025 in Ho Chi Minh City, chaired by the Prime Minister of Spain and attended by Deputy Minister Phan Thi Thang, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Bui Xuan Cuong, leaders of many ministries, departments and branches of Vietnam and Spain and many businesses of the two countries.
Deputy Minister Phan Thi Thang speaks at the Forum
Speaking at the Forum, Deputy Minister Phan Thi Thang said that Spain is currently Vietnam's fifth largest trading partner in the EU and Vietnam is Spain's largest trading partner in ASEAN. However, economic, trade and investment relations are still not commensurate with the potential and strengths of the two countries. Import-export turnover between Vietnam and Spain accounts for only 0.7% of Spain's total import-export turnover and 0.6% of Vietnam's total import-export turnover. Spain's investment in Vietnam is still modest, ranking 46th out of 147 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. This shows that there is still a lot of room to expand economic, trade and investment relations thanks to the existing advantages of both sides and the taking advantage of the commitments of the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the European Union (EVFTA), as well as the strategic geographical location of the two countries and the determination and support of the state management agencies of the two governments.
Prime Minister of Spain and Deputy Minister Phan Thi Thang
Delegation of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise of Spain
On the Spanish side, speaking at the Forum, the Spanish Prime Minister said that the Forum in particular and the visit to Vietnam in general clearly illustrated the Spanish Government's commitment to strengthening economic, trade and investment cooperation with Vietnam. Specifically, in 2009, the two countries signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement; in 2020, the Free Trade Agreement between the EU and Vietnam took effect. As a result, in just four years, trade flows between the two countries have doubled from 2.9 billion euros in 2020 to nearly 5.8 billion euros in 2024 (according to Spanish data). Vietnam is currently Spain's largest trading partner among the ten ASEAN member states and Spanish investment in Vietnam continues to grow year by year. Economic figures confirm that trade liberalization benefits both sides.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez stated that Spain is now recognized as a leading country in promoting the green economy and, as a result, Spain is able to support Vietnam in its energy transition. This support can be implemented through the exchange of experience, technology transfer, training to improve management capacity, etc. In addition, regarding other strengths of Spain such as infrastructure development, transportation, railway and high-speed rail transport, food processing industry, etc., Spain is fully capable and ready to cooperate with Vietnamese enterprises in need.
Promoting trade and investment cooperation
Also within the framework of the visit, Deputy Minister Phan Thi Thang had a working session with Ms. Amparo Lopez, Secretary of State for Trade of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise on bilateral economic, trade and investment cooperation.
The two sides assessed the working session as very practical and effective because it focused on the key points that need to be promoted in bilateral economic cooperation. This includes enhancing the use of the advantages of the EVFTA, especially in terms of market opening, limiting technical barriers, and ensuring maximum benefits for businesses. Deputy Minister Phan Thi Thang suggested that Spain and the EU consider the differences in development levels between the two sides in the process of building and implementing new regulations, thereby creating regulations that are appropriate for specific partners, in accordance with the provisions of international law, as well as bilateral and multilateral commitments; enhancing the effectiveness of the mechanism of the Vietnam - Spain Joint Committee on Economic, Trade and Investment Cooperation co-chaired by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise of Spain. Regarding the issue of preventing IUU fishing, Deputy Minister Phan Thi Thang affirmed that Vietnam considers this a very important task, and has been making efforts to improve the legal framework, direct and control, trace the origin, and seriously and effectively implement the EC's recommendations. At the same time, the Deputy Minister suggested that the EU consider removing the yellow card warning for Vietnam soon based on the difficulties and differences between Vietnam and the EU in the legal system, fisheries management capacity, etc. In addition, Deputy Minister Phan Thi Thang also proposed a number of other potential areas of cooperation such as food processing industry and supporting industries for the textile, footwear and leather industries; mechanical engineering industry; development of transport infrastructure and logistics services; cooperation in renewable energy and clean energy towards sustainable development.
Deputy Minister Phan Thi Thang works with the Secretary of State for Trade of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise
For his part, the Secretary of State for Trade of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Trade and Entrepreneurship highly appreciated the cooperation and contributions of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in developing economic, trade and investment relations between the two sides. The Secretary of State said that currently, businesses of both sides are making good use of the EVFTA Agreement and there is still great and diverse potential for cooperation; regarding investment projects of Spanish enterprises in Vietnam, the Secretary of State suggested that the Vietnamese side consider promptly resolving the contents proposed by Spanish enterprises regarding renewable energy projects of Spanish enterprises as well as a number of other projects on wastewater treatment and the environment.
In 2024, the total two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Spain reached a record of 4.7 billion USD, an increase of 20% compared to 2023. Of which, Vietnam's exports to Spain reached 4 billion USD, an increase of 21%, and imports from Spain reached 716 million USD, an increase of 14%. However, bilateral trade accounted for only 0.6% of Vietnam's total import-export turnover and only 0.7% of Spain's total import-export turnover, showing that the potential for expanding trade between the two countries is still very large. Vietnam imports from Spain the main items including pharmaceuticals; chemical products; machinery, equipment, tools and other spare parts; raw plastics; animal feed and raw materials; food preparations, etc. Vietnam's main exports to Spain include textiles and garments; footwear; phones of all kinds and components; machinery, equipment, tools and other spare parts; computers, electronic products and components; iron and steel of all kinds, etc. Regarding investment, as of December 2024, Spain has 97 investment projects in Vietnam with a total capital of 143.9 million USD; Vietnam has 03 investment projects in Spain with a total capital of 64.2 million USD. Up to now, Spain's FDI investment in Vietnam is still modest, ranking 46/147 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. Although Spain's investment in Vietnam is currently limited in terms of the number of projects, it has great prospects in terms of capital potential and European quality. Spain ratified the Vietnam - EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) in January 2022. |
Source: https://moit.gov.vn/tin-tuc/hoat-dong/hoat-dong-cua-lanh-dao-bo/viet-nam-tay-ba-nha-tang-cuong-hop-tac-trong-linh-vuc-thuong-mai-va-cong-nghiep.html
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