Irish Ambassador to Việt Nam Deirdre Ní Fhallúin.

Ireland wants to step up collaboration with Việt Nam in education, agrifood and trade, Irish Ambassador to Việt Nam Deirdre Ní Fhallúin told the Vietnam News Agency on the threshold of the State visit to the European nation by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam Central Committee and State President Tô Lâm.

Party General Secretary and State President Tô Lâm and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation will pay a State visit to Ireland. Could you please share with us the context of the relationship between the two countries and the significances of the visit?

Ireland’s Embassy in Việt Nam was established in 2005 and since then our two countries have shared a warm relationship, underpinned by our development cooperation programme. Much of our focus has been on supporting ethnic minority communities in Việt Nam and on humanitarian mine assistance – working with partners to clear affected land, raise awareness of mines in schools, and support people who have been disabled by unexploded ordnance.

Recently, as Việt Nam’s economy has continued its impressive growth, we have increased our bilateral cooperation in the areas of agriculture, food systems, and higher education, focusing on technical support and capacity building, and on building institutional links between our two countries.

Our President, Michael D. Higgins, undertook a State visit to Việt Nam in 2016. I know that this visit is still fondly remembered in both countries, so we are delighted that the return State visit of Việt Nam's Party General Secretary, President Tô Lâm to Ireland is now taking place, marking our countries’ deepening relationship.

Ireland has strengths in many areas such as education and training, financial services, insurance, information technology, green technology, renewable energy, etc. What are your comments on the potentials for cooperation between the two countries in the future?

Ireland was not a developed country until relatively recently - we experienced rapid development and economic growth in the latter half of the last century. We’re now often called ‘The Silicon Valley of Europe’, recognised globally as a centre for pharmaceuticals, technology (Ireland is home to the European headquarters of many big tech companies such as Meta and Google) and high quality education.

From our own development journey, we know how important education is for a country’s development. We have supported Vietnamese students to undertake fully-funded Masters degrees in Ireland under our scholarship scheme, the Ireland Fellows Programme. These students return to Việt Nam with high quality education and experience, and hopefully a lifelong connection to Ireland.

The Embassy is also increasing cooperation between universities and institutes in our two countries to share experience and build capacity in areas such as agriculture and agrifood, which are priority fields for both Ireland and Việt Nam . The Ireland Việt Nam Agrifood Partnership (IVAP) is a great example of our strong collaboration in this area.

Ireland is a small island – we also face the growing and urgent challenge of climate change. We must tackle this challenge together and we are increasing our climate resilience work in rural communities in Việt Nam and deepening university cooperation and research in the areas of climate change and sustainability.

After nearly 30 years of establishing diplomatic relations, the two countries have seen many positive results in bilateral cooperation. What are notable highlights in the cooperative relationship between the two countries in recent times?

At the Embassy, we’re very proud of our long development cooperation programme with Việt Nam, particularly our focus on working with ethnic minorities, and humanitarian mine assistance, and also our programmes on nutrition and maternal health, and our growing work on increasing resilience to climate change. We were proud recently to be able to provide 250,000 euros in humanitarian funding for the response to the impact of Typhoon Yagi, which has had a devastating impact in northern Việt Nam . That funding is supporting the work of UNICEF providing immediate assistance in the form of clean water and hygiene to affected families.

It is great to see the bilateral relationship between Ireland and Việt Nam evolving in the years since we established our Embassy, as we seek to increase our cooperation in other areas such as education and agrifood, as well as to increase trade between our two countries. The relationship between Ireland and Việt Nam will continue to evolve and develop along a positive trajectory. The State visit of President Michael D. Higgins to Việt Nam nearly a decade ago was an important milestone in our bilateral relationship. Party General Secretary and President Tô Lâm’s visit marks another significant step, and I am delighted that this return visit is now taking place. I am looking forward to continuing my work to further deepen and strengthen our ties during my time as Ambassador. VNS