Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính and a high-level delegation of Việt Nam arrives at Schiphol International Airport in Amsterdam on December 10 afternoon. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

AMSTERDAM — Prime Minister Pham Minh Chính arrived in Amsterdam on December 10 afternoon (local time) to start his official visit to the Netherlands at the invitation of Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

He is scheduled to have talks and meetings with many leaders of the host country, visit its major economic establishments, attend the Việt Nam – Netherlands business forum, witness the signing of bilateral cooperation documents, and meet representatives of the Vietnamese community there.

Over the past years, bilateral relations have seen vigorous developments in various fields, especially investment, trade, agriculture and climate change response. The Netherlands is Việt Nam’s second biggest trade partner in Europe and its biggest investor in the European Union. Two-way trade in 2021 reached US$8.37 billion, nearly 10 per cent more than that a year earlier; and amounted to $8.2 billion in the first nine months of this year, marking an increase of 36 per cent year on year.

The Netherlands counts 380 investment projects in Việt Nam with a combined capital of $13.5 billion. Over the past two years, Việt Nam has received 1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from the European country.

The visit to the Netherlands by PM Chính will help further consolidate, strengthen and deepen the Việt Nam – Netherlands comprehensive partnership, pushing up the development cooperation in the fields of the Netherlands’ strength and Việt Nam’s demand such as circular economy, renewable energy, climate change response. — VNS