On 31 May, Argentina and Vietnam virtually held the 8th Bilateral Consultations Meeting, chaired by the Deputy Foreign Minister, Pablo Tettamanti, and his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Quoc Dung.
The parties reviewed the bilateral agenda and to strengthen the comprehensive partnership between both countries, which in 2020 marked its 10th anniversary, through further high-level dialogue and a new boost to bilateral trade promotion, including sanitary and phytosanitary negotiations, with a view to the next Intergovernmental Committee on Economy and Trade, to be held in August. In 2020, Vietnam was Argentina’s sixth largest global trade partner and the fifth largest destination for Argentine exports.
During the meeting, the parties discussed the advantages of exploring new areas for cooperation, including science and technology, aerospace cooperation, communication media, digital agenda and exchanges between diplomatic academies. It was also agreed to advance the negotiations on the agreements on defence and prevention and investigation of human trafficking, among others.
The Deputy Ministers exchanged views on topics of regional and multilateral interest and shared experiences on how they are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, stressing the importance of global solidarity to face the current and future challenges.
The Vietnamese party thanked for the full bilateral technical cooperation agenda, the largest agenda of Argentina in Southeast Asia, and they agreed to carry out new virtual activities related to projects on forensic anthropology for the identification of Vietnamese war casualties and on the development of innovative technology for dairy products.
The Vietnamese delegation included the Ambassador to Argentina, Duong Quoc Thanh, the Deputy General Director for the Americas, Le Cong Tien, and the Deputy Director for Foreign Policy, Nguyen Hoai Anh. For Argentina, the meeting was attended by the Undersecretary for Multilateral and Bilateral Economic Relations, Carola Ramón, the Ambassador to Vietnam, Pablo Beltramino, and the Director for Asia and Oceania, Minister Eduardo Acevedo Díaz.
