On the occasion of his visit to Vietnam to attend the 5th Asia-Europe Meeting, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Phan Van Khai. During their talks, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai said that the relations between Germany and Vietnam has developed well in recent years and Germany is the largest partner of Vietnam in Europe. The Vietnamese leader thanked the German Government’s official development aid to Vietnam and suggested that Germany should change the target of its aid in the field of hunger elimination and poverty reduction to vocational training and supporting small and medium businesses. He promised that Vietnam would create all favourable conditions for German businesses to invest in Vietnam. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder thanked Vietnam’s organization of ASEM-5 and its important contribution to the success of the Summit. He said: “I participated in ASEM-5 because I think that the cooperation between the two continents of Asia and Europe is very important, in which there is a fine relationship between Vietnam and Germany.” He also affirmed that the relations between the two countries would further develop and the two sides should promote their cooperation in the fields of economy, infrastructure projects, scientific research, education and training and public health. The two prime ministers witnessed the signing of several important documents on financial, technical and business cooperation, including an investment agreement, a technical cooperation agreement, a development cooperation agreement capitalized at 60 million Euros, an agreement to support the Vietnamese Government to reform all framework conditions for private business development, and two deals to supply 16 diesel train’s heads and technical equipment for Hoanh Bo Cement Plant (in Quang Ninh). By Hoang Chuong |
