Hamburg (VNA) – Vietnam attaches special importance to developing therelations with Germany, which is its leading partner in Europe in politics-externalrelations, trade-investment, education-training and science-technology, PrimeMinister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said.

Hemade the remarks during his talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel inHamburg city on July 6 (local time) as part of his working visit to Germany.

The Vietnamese Government leader hailed the warm welcome of Chancellor AngelaMerkel and thanked the German head for inviting Vietnam’s high-rankingdelegation to attend the G20 Summit.

Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her hope that the visit will serve as animpetus to strengthen Vietnam-Germany strategic relations in various fields.

Regarding ways to enhance the countries’ connections, the leaders agreed tomaintain delegation exchanges and meetings, especially at high level, and improvethe effectiveness of existing cooperation mechanisms such as the Vietnam-GermanyStrategic Management Group, Rule-of-Law Dialogue, and working groups ineconomics-trade and science-technology.

They said that the move aims to realise the strategic action plan practically betweenthe two countries and enhance mutual understanding and trust.

The German side pledged to support Vietnam in developing relations with the EUand speed up the early signing of the free trade agreement between Vietnam and theEU.

The leaders were glad that Germany has been Vietnam’s top trade partner in theEU with two-way trade standing at 9 billion USD in recent years. Germany is thefifth largest investor in Vietnam with a total registered capital of 1.4billion USD.

The leaders agreed that the two nations boast huge potentials in cooperationand need to work to connect businesses from both sides.

They expressed satisfaction over the upbeat results of the Vietnam-GermanyBusiness Forum held during the Vietnamese leader’s visit with 28 agreements inkedworth 1.5 billion euros.

On the occasion, Prime Minister Phuc asked Chancellor Angela Merkel toencourage German small- and medium-sized enterprises to increase investment inVietnam in fields of Germany’s strengths and Vietnam’s demand like the supportindustry, railway, tourism infrastructure, transport-seaport, renewable energyand food industry.

Vietnam will create favourable conditions for foreign businesses, includingthose from Germany, the Vietnamese leader said, affirming that the VietnameseGovernment will facilitate the German House project in Ho Chi Minh City so thatit can become operational in the third quarter of this year, and hold dialoguesto address German investors’ challenges.

At the talks, the leaders were delighted at the efficient collaboration ineducation-training, labour and science-technology, pledging to continue making effortsto make Vietnam-Germany University become Germany’s top research and educationcentre in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

They will consider the signing of a Government-level agreement or a trilateralagreement to create an important, long-term legal foundation for theuniversity.

The leaders expressed their support for the teaching of Vietnamese and German inschools in both countries and further cooperation in vocational training forVietnamese labourers to work in Germany.

In science-technology, they agreed to promote technology transfer in fields ofwind power, food industry, IT application, as well as biology for sustainabledevelopment. A Memorandum of Understanding on wind power turbine production wassigned between the Vietnam National University, Hanoi and the University ofRostock during Prime Minister Phuc’s visit.

Regarding security-defence cooperation, the two sides will support each other incriminal justice and consider the possibility of negotiating an extradition agreementand an agreement on the transfer of sentenced persons with a view to completingthe legal framework for cooperation in preventing cross-border crimes.

Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke highly of the Vietnamese community in Germanyfor their significant contributions to cultural diversity in the host nation,highlighting their roles in promoting the friendship between the two nations.

Upon regional and international issues of mutual interests, the leaders wereunanimous in tackling disputes by peaceful means based on international law.Germany affirmed its support for freedom of navigation in the East Sea andbacked Vietnam’s stance of settling disputes in the spirit of respectinginternational law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of theSea 1982 (UNCLOS 1982) and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in theEast Sea (DOC).-VNA