Vietnam, Turkey look to upgrade ties, lift two-way trade to $4 bln

Vietnam and Turkey should work on mechanisms to deepen bilateral ties, including studying the possibility of elevating them to a new height, given the wishes of both sides, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has suggested.

PM Chinh made the proposal during a joint press meeting with Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz following their talks on Wednesday, the first day of his two-day official visit to Turkey. This is the first visit by a Vietnamese prime minister to Turkey.

Vietnam and Turkey established diplomatic ties on June 7, 1978. Turkey opened its embassy in Hanoi in February 1997 while Vietnam made the reciprocal move in 2003.

According to a release by Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry, both dignitaries affirmed their desire and determination to promote the friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries.

They agreed to further consolidate and strengthen good political and diplomatic ties, as well as cooperation between the two ruling parties, and coordinate and support each other at international forums and organizations.

The Vietnamese prime minister asked Turkey to soon recognize Vietnam as a market economy.

Chinh also proposed the two countries initiate negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement and an investment protection agreement, with the aim of bringing two-way trade to $4 billion soon.

Bilateral trade topped $2 billion in 2022, with Vietnam exporting $1.6 billion worth of goods.

The Vietnamese PM promised all possible conditions for Turkish businesses to invest in Vietnam in priority areas such as industrial production, high-tech agriculture, consumer goods, green economy, and innovation.

For his part, Yilmaz affirmed that Turkey considers Vietnam one of its top priority partners in ASEAN, especially in the fields of economy, trade, and investment, national defense-security, and tourism.

Yilmaz lauded the success of Vietur, a consortium led by a Turkish company and joined by several Vietnamese firms, in securing a contract to build the passenger terminal at Long Thanh International Airport.

In the field of defense-security, the two sides agreed to beef up cooperation in the defense industry and information exchange, and enhance collaboration in combatting crime, technical training and experience sharing in search, rescue and relief efforts.

Both sides committed to share knowledge, increase exchanges and foster cooperation in other potential fields like agriculture, renewable energy, science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation.

Chinh extended an invitation to Yilmaz to pay an official visit to Vietnam in 2024, which was accepted.

After the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of three cooperation documents in the spheres of agriculture, diplomat training, and aviation.

President Erdogan accepts invitation to visit Vietnam

During a meeting in Ankara the same day, Vietnamese PM Chinh and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed on specific measures to forge multifaceted cooperation between the two countries.

They consented to reinforce cooperation between the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and the ruling Justice and Development Party of Turkey as well as between the governments and parliaments of the two countries.

The leaders also agreed to strengthen cooperation in other areas, including the Halal industry, tourism, agriculture, education and training, and people-to-people exchanges.

Chinh called on Turkey to facilitate access to Vietnam's major products like footwear, farm produce ad aquatic products to supermarket chains and distribution chains in the country.

He invited Turkish enterprises to invest in areas such as hydrogen development, infrastructure and logistics.

Chinh conveyed the invitation from General Secretary of CPV Nguyen Phu Trong and President Vo Van Thuong to the Turkish president to pay an official visit to Vietnam next year. Erdogan accepted the invitation and looked forward to arrangements for the visit.