BERLIN — Việt Nam’s consistent policy is to consider Germany its leading important and trusted partner in Europe and hopes to deepen the bilateral strategic partnership, affirmed Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc while meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin on Thursday.

The German President spoke highly of the achievements Việt Nam had made during its socio-economic development, confirming that Germany always attaches importance to consolidating and developing its friendship and co-operation with Việt Nam – a partner with an increasingly important role in the Asia-Pacific region.

Both sides expressed their delight at positive growth in the bilateral relations in the fields of politics-diplomacy, trade, investment, development co-operation, education-training, labour-vocational training, and science-technology.

Germany has been Việt Nam’s leading trade partner in the European Union for years, with two-way trade reaching US$9 billion last year. It is also the fifth biggest EU investor in the country with total registered capital of $1.4 billion.

President Steinmeier said that there was great potential for bilateral cooperation, considering a free trade agreement between Việt Nam and the EU is about to be signed and the German House in HCM City will be put into use in the third quarter of 2017.

PM Phúc expressed his hope that Germany would encourage its businesses to intensify investments in Việt Nam, especially the fields that it has strength and Việt Nam has demand such as processing, manufacturing, clean energy, and food industry.

The PM pledged that Việt Nam would create an open and favourable environment for foreign investors, including those from Germany.

The two leaders agreed to make joint efforts to turn the Việt Nam-Germany University into a leading training and research establishment in Việt Nam and the region, in order to train internationally-recognised engineers who can meet Việt Nam’s development requirements in the fourth industrial revolution.

They reached a consensus on boosting technology transfer and cooperation in fields of Germany’s strength such as wind power, information technology and communications, and manufacturing.

Discussing several regional and international issues of shared concern with Phúc, President Steinmeier affirmed Germany’s support for maritime freedom in the East Sea, and the settlement of disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law, especially the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea. — VNS