Radio România Internațional

Tag: Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh

  • The Vietnamese Prime Minister in Bucharest

    The Vietnamese Prime Minister in Bucharest

    Politically, Vietnam is not exactly an Asian champion of human rights and, despite the longevity of its communist regime, also not a state with an unbroken order. A few days ago, the international media announced that the justice there had sentenced ten people to life imprisonment, for armed attacks on a police headquarters in the center of the country, last June. Another 90 people received prison sentences between nine months and 20 years, under the same charge: attempted overthrow of the regime. Economically, however, Vietnam is a business partner that many democracies in Europe and the two Americas want.



    On Monday, the Vietnamese Prime Minister, Pham Minh Chinh, was received in Bucharest with military honors. He has been leading the government in Hanoi for almost three years, speaks Romanian and knows very well Romania, where he completed his university studies and worked in the embassy of his country here. Like all Romanian interlocutors the Vietnamese prime minister talked to, President Klaus Iohannis pleaded for the strengthening of bilateral relations, both through high-level political dialogue and sectoral cooperation. The head of state also spoke out for the expansion and diversification of the European Union-Vietnam agenda.



    The interest of our country is for Romanian products to be present in Vietnam – Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu told his counterpart, according to which the value of trade exchanges does not reflect the true potential of the two states. That’s why we aim for a constant increase in bilateral trade, which will lead to the doubling of the volume by the year 2030, the head of the Romanian government said. He also mentioned joint-venture agreements already concluded between Romanian and Vietnamese companies, such as the construction this year of a used tire recycling factory in Romania, collaboration in the IT field with an investment of about two million dollars and the creation of a center of support and assistance for software in the automotive industry.



    The Vietnamese government delegation also went to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania, which hosted a business forum. The President of the Chamber, Mihai Daraban, specified that the number of workers from Vietnam present in the Romanian economy with proper documents is over two thousand. I think we need additional guarantees from both governments that this will work under optimal conditions moving forward, Daraban said. The economies of Romania and Vietnam are complementary and can increase commercial exchanges in numerous fields – the Minister of Economy, Radu Oprea, also stated there. The Romanian-Vietnamese business forum was attended by over 85 companies active in fields such as construction, tourism, consulting, finance, banking and IT. (MI)


  • January 22, 2024

    January 22, 2024

    Visit. The Romanian Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, has stated that the time has come for relations between Romania and Vietnam to move to the ‘next level’, after almost seven and a half decades since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. After the discussions in Bucharest with his Vietnamese counterpart, Pham Minh Chinh, Ciolacu pointed out that Romania was one of the main promoters of the development of Vietnam’s relations with the European Union and stated that he wanted Romania to become the main partner of that country in terms of its commercial access on the European market. He also proposed to his Vietnamese counterpart a partnership aimed at promoting medicines produced in Romania in the Southeast Asian area. For his part, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized his country’s interest in developing partnerships in fields such as science, technology, innovation, agriculture. The head of the Hanoi government will be received by President Klaus Iohannis.










    Senate. In Bucharest,
    the Senate was convened, today, in an extraordinary session to adopt the
    emergency ordinances recently issued by the Government, in the context of the
    farmers’ and transporters’ protests. There are several normative acts,
    including one on the excise duty on diesel fuel, and another modifying
    regulations in the field of road transport. The emergency ordinances were
    approved by the executive during the parliamentary recess and, according to the
    Constitution, Parliament must be convened within five days to turn them into
    laws. On the other hand, the first day of the three-day rally authorized by the
    Capital City Hall in front of the Parliament building was, on Sunday, a
    failure. Only a few people came and it was not about farmers or transporters.
    The protest continues, however, near the capital and across the country. The
    demands of farmers and transporters remain the same, from the reduction of the mandatory
    insurance fees and the recovery of a percentage of the excise duty on fuels, to
    fiscal fairness and the shortening of border crossing times.












    IMF. An IMF mission
    will come to Bucharest next week, approximately four months after the previous
    visit, to analyze the latest economic and financial developments. According to
    a press release, the institution estimates an economic growth of 2.3% for
    Romania this year and a budget deficit of 6% of the GDP. The IMF recommends authorities
    in Bucharest to implement additional reforms, of some two percent of the GDP.
    At the end of the previous visit, the head of the mission for Romania, Kees
    Martijn, said that the fiscal package adopted by the government was a step in
    the right direction, but other reforms were needed, especially regarding taxes,
    to increase revenues, efficiency and fairness.






    FAC. The head of Romanian
    diplomacy, Luminiţa Odobescu, is participating, today, in Brussels, in the Foreign
    Affairs Council. The main topics on the agenda are Russia’s aggression against
    Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East, reads a press release issued by Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bucharest.
    There will be both formal debates in the EU-27 format, as well as informal,
    separate discussions, with the participation of several foreign ministers from
    the region. On the sidelines of the FAC meeting, there will be an informal
    breakfast with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, S.H. Shoukry, in
    preparation for the tenth meeting of the EU-Egypt Association Council, on
    January 23, 2024. Minister Odobescu also has a meeting with the Secretary
    General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg.






    Gaza. Intense Israeli
    air raids and street fighting with Hamas militants continue in the Gaza Strip,
    where Palestinian medical officials have reported that the death toll has
    exceeded 25,000. As street fighting intensifies between Israeli forces and
    Hamas militants in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, the southern town of
    Khan Yunis is being hit by heavy Israeli bombardment. Meanwhile, the United
    States, Qatar and Egypt continue their attempts at mediation, but Hamas demands
    that Israel end the war and withdraw its forces before the hostages are
    released, an option rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
    During the night, the hostages’ relatives and sympathizers gathered near the
    prime minister’s official residence to demand an agreement for their release.
    The French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, is meeting today
    with the families of the hostages, and then with Prime Minister Benjamin
    Netanyahu and his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant. (MI)