Hanoi (VNA) – The upcoming visit to Canada by Prime Minister NguyenXuan Phuc and his attendance at the expanded Group of Seven (G7) Summit fromJune 8-10 offers good chances for Vietnam to enhance its ties with Canada andother G7 countries.

Strengthening mutualunderstanding, trust

Vietnam and Canada established diplomatic ties in 1973 andbegan the exchange of high-ranking delegations since 1994. During a visit byVietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh inSeptember 2014, the foreign ministers of Vietnam and Canada signed a Letter of Intenton consolidating and boosting bilateral relations. In September 2016, whenCanadian Foreign Minister Stephane Dion visited Vietnam, the two sides agreedto promote cooperation in seven fields mentioned in the Letter of Intent, with afocus on trade-investment and education-training.

On the occasion of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s officialvisit to Vietnam in November 2017, the two countries issued a joint statementon the establishment of their comprehensive partnership, which set forth basicprinciples for bilateral relations along with orientations and measures tofoster bilateral partnership in the seven fields of politics-diplomacy,trade-investment, development cooperation, defence-security, culture-education,science-technology, and people-to-people exchange.

Vietnam is currently Canada’s biggest trade partner in theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations with bilateral trade reaching nearly 5billion USD in 2017. Canada ranks 14th among 112 nations andterritories investing in Vietnam with 149 projects worth a total of 4.1 billionUSD.

Recently, Canada announced official development assistance(ODA) for a project to develop cooperatives in Vietnam, another to help thecountry respond to climate change and two others on food safety.

Bilateral cooperation in education and training is enjoyingstrong growth, with the number of Vietnamese students in Canada rising twofold inthe past 10 years to 12,000, the largest among ASEAN countries.

Many Vietnamese and Canada localities have established ties,for example, Vietnam’s Ha Tinh province and Langley city of Canada, Ho Chi MinhCity and Toronto, and Da Nang city and Vancouver. The Canadian side has alsorun several ODA projects in Vietnamese localities such as a project to developsmall- and medium-sized enterprises in Soc Trang and Tra Vinh provinces, andanother on vocational training in Hau Giang and Vinh Long provinces.

In addition, cooperation in defence-security has beenmaintained through the exchange of delegations at all levels and bilateralmeetings on the sidelines of multilateral forums, and through the cooperationand sharing of experience in English language training and participation inUnited Nations peacekeeping missions, search and rescue missions, crimeprevention and immigration issues.

At regional and international forums, the two countries haveactively coordinated with each other in numerous issues, including disarmament,regional security, and international trade. Both countries are now members ofthe Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit to Canada takes place at a timewhen the two countries are celebrating the 45th year of theirdiplomatic relationship with remarkable developments in bilateral ties acrossthe fields, from politics, diplomacy to economics-trade, developmentcooperation, education-training and people-to-people exchange. The visit isexpected to maintain the impetus of the bilateral comprehensive partnership andcontinue to enhance mutual understanding and trust, thus bringing bilateralties forward in a more effective and pragmatic manner.

The expanded G7Summit in 2018

The expanded G7 Summit will be held in Charlevoix, Quebec,on June 8-9 with the participation of the world’s seven advanced economies,namely Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, and severalguests, including Vietnam.

The agenda of this year’s summit focuses on gender equalityand women empowerment, investment in inclusive growth, preparations to adapt tojob placements in future, cooperation to  respond to climate change and protect oceans,and the building of a more peaceful and safer world.

As the Chair of G7 this year, Canada gives priority to genderequality and empowerment of women. The Gender Equality Advisory Council forCanada's G7 Presidency was set up to step up this working agenda.

Before the summit takes place, the host Canada is scheduledto organise several ministerial meetings to consult on issues related to theworking agenda.

The G7 is an informal grouping of seven of the world’sadvanced economies consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UKand the US. It was established in 1975 under the US’ initiative with sixmembers. Canada joined the grouping in 1976.

The G7 Summit offers an opportunity for G7 leaders,ministers and policy makers to come together each year to build consensus andset trends around some of today’s most challenging global issues.

Canada’s invitation of the Vietnamese Prime Minister toattend the summit reflects the increasingly important role and position ofVietnam in the international arena. The summit’s themes and working agenda arein accordance with Vietnam’s concern and interests. -VNA