Vietnamese Vice President Võ Thị Ánh Xuân (L) and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. VNA/VNS Photo

ZAGREB – Vietnamese Vice President Võ Thị Ánh Xuân held talks with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković in Zagreb on October 11, during which the latter welcomed the Vietnamese delegation and affirmed that their ongoing visit was an important hallmark in the history of traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries.

The two sides informed each other about the socio-economic development situation in each country and spoke highly of fine and reliable relations in politics and diplomacy between Việt Nam and Croatia, and agreed to increase the exchange of delegations via all State and parliament channels and between ministries, sectors and localities.

Xuân conveyed the regards and invitation from Vietnamese PM Phạm Minh Chính to Plenković to pay an official visit to Việt Nam at an appropriate time and the latter accepted the invitation with pleasure.

The leaders reached consensus on measures to improve the efficiency of bilateral economic-trade-investment ties, including considering the establishment of the inter-governmental cooperation mechanism, and launching projects in promising areas such as maritime, transport, light industry, clean energy, information technology and innovation while tapping new opportunities brought about by the EU-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Việt Nam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), toward lifting two-way trade to US$200 million by 2025.

On this occasion, Xuân thanked Croatia for early ratifying the EVIPA and suggested Croatia prompt other EU member states to soon approve the deal and urge the European Commission to lift its “yellow card” warning on Việt Nam’s seafood.

The two sides pledged to boost seaport cooperation to become hubs for goods transshipment between ASEAN and Europe, as well as expanding partnership in education-training, labour, culture, sports and tourism as Croatia is to join the Schengen visa-free zone and eurozone from January 1, 2023.

They consented to review bilateral cooperation agreements to create a legal corridor for increased cooperation between the two nations in various areas.

On regional and global issues, the host and guest shared a view that issues must be handled by peaceful means on the basis of respecting basic principles of international law, especially the principle of respecting independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries.

Xuân took this occasion to thank the Croatian Government for creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community in the country to stabilise their lives, helping to enhance mutual understanding between the two nations and their economic, cultural, tourism and education exchanges. She also thanked the Croatian Government for its donation of 60,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Việt Nam in late 2021.

On the afternoon of the same day, the Vietnamese Vice President left Croatia for Kazakhstan to attend the sixth Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and have bilateral activities in the country. — VNS