Vice President Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh (L) meets with Prime Minister of Finland Juha Sipila yesterday in Helsinki. — VNA/VNS Photo Doãn Tấn

HELSINKI — Prime Minister of Finland Juha Sipila affirmed that Finland wants to enhance ties with Việt Nam in a meeting yesterday with Vice President Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh in Helsinki.

He underscored the need to establish a strategic partnership across education-training, innovation, clean technology, water resources management and forestry. 

He also expressed his delight that he would visit Việt Nam next year on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties, while extending his sympathies to Việt Nam over its large losses of life and property in recent floods. 

Thịnh asked Finland to actively support Việt Nam – European Union ties, especially the signing and adoption of the European Union – Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). 

She and the PM agreed on measures to boost trade ties potential fields such as information technology and communications, clean water supply, forest wood industry and renewable energies.

The two also discussed the importance of maintaining global peace and security and working closely together at the United Nations, the Asia-Europe Meeting, ASEAN and the European Union, and other multilateral forums to achieve the goal. 

Meeting Speaker of the Parliament of Finland Maria Lohela, Thịnh expressed the wish that Finland would continue maintaining official development assistance (ODA) to Việt Nam to cope with climate change, affirming that the Vietnamese government would continue working closely with Finland to build projects that effectively use Finland’s ODA.

Lohela, in reply, said the Finnish parliament would continue encouraging domestic firms to do business in Việt Nam, adding that there remains room for bilateral co-operation. 

The two sides vowed to reinforce ties in fields of Finland’s strength and Việt Nam’s needs and to maintain the bridging role played by Vietnamese nationals in Finland. — VNS