Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc will showcase Việt Nam as a dynamic country and a trusted and responsible member of the international community during his visit to Germany and attendance at the G20 Summit. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI – Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc will showcase Việt Nam as a dynamic country and a trusted and responsible member of the international community during his visit to Germany and attendance at the G20 Summit.

He begins his four-day visit today.

Việt Nam and Germany established diplomatic ties on September 23, 1975. Since then, bilateral friendship and co-operation have developed extensively, through regular exchange of high-level delegations and co-operative mechanisms.

During the Việt Nam visit by Chancellor Angela Merkel in October 2011, the two Government leaders signed a joint statement on establishing a strategic partnership which set in place targets and measures to intensify bilateral collaboration.

Germany is Việt Nam’s largest trade partner in Europe with two-way trade reaching US$8.78 billion last year and $3.8 billion in the first five months of 2017.

Việt Nam mainly ships mobile phones and computer components, garment and textile, footwear, coffee, agricultural and aquatic products to Germany. It imports machinery, spare parts, automobiles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and milk products.

Germany sees Việt Nam a promising, rapidly developing Asian market. As of April 20, it had 285 projects worth $1.41 billion in Việt Nam, ranking fifth in the European Union and 20th among 116 nations and territories investing in Việt Nam. There are about 300 German enterprises operating in Việt Nam.

Meanwhile, Việt Nam has 30 investment projects in Germany with total capital of $124.8 million, mainly in finance-banking, automobiles, real estate, services and informatics.

Since 1990, Germany has provided some $2 billion for Official Development Assistance projects in Việt Nam. The German Government has pledged more than 600 million euro ($682.1 million) for projects in energy, vocational training and environment.

Germany is one of the most important markets for the Vietnamese tourism sector. In the first three months of this year, 61,923 Germans visited Việt Nam, up 13.2 per cent year-on-year. From July 1, Việt Nam piloted visa waivers for German citizens staying for 15 days or less.

German is being taught as the second foreign language in 13 schools nationwide thanks to a German Foreign Ministry initiative.

There are currently 176,000 Vietnamese people living in Germany. Several States have also piloted the teaching of the Vietnamese language in high schools, such as Brandenburg, Berlin, Sachsen and Sachsen Anhalt.

In addition, the two countries have signed agreements to create a legal foundation for economic co-operation, including an agreement on double taxation avoidance and another on investment protection and encouragement.

Themed “Shaping an interconnected world”, the G20 Summit will be held on Friday and Saturday in Hamburg. As the host of the APEC 2017, Việt Nam has been invited to conferences and meetings within the G20 framework this year. — VNS