Prime Minister’s upcoming visit offers more comprehensive cooperation for Viet Nam, Brazil

Brazilian Ambassador to Viet Nam Marco Farani made that above statement in his recent interview with VGP.

Marco Farani expressed his delight and enthusiasm for the PM's upcoming visit, adding that Brazilian President Lula da Silva and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met at the 49th G7 summit, held in Hiroshima, Japan, in recent May. President Lula took the occasion to invite the Vietnamese leader to visit Brazil. 

Silva was the first Brazilian President to visit Viet Nam in 2008. Recently, he was invited by Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong to pay a visit to Viet Nam. 

In 2024, the two nations will celebrate the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations, said the Ambassador, adding that it is a good opportunity for the President of Brazil to come to Viet Nam in the year.

Regarding prospects in the bilateral relationship, especially via the upcoming visit of the Vietnamese PM, Marco Farani said, despite the long geographical distance, the bilateral relations between Brazil and Viet Nam is very promising, particularly in trade, tourism, agriculture, energy and education. 

Besides, the Ambassador expressed his hope that the two nations will enhance political alignment, and hold more political dialogues. Both countries belong to the Southern Hemisphere and have the same aspirations. The two nations have important roles in ASEAN and Latin America, noted the diplomat. 

So the upcoming visit of the Vietnamese PM's to Brazil is a very important opportunity for the two leaders to meet and discuss these issues, he added. 

In the international sphere, Brazil has just assumed the Pro-tempore presidency of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) where it intends to work on deepening the intra-bloc dialogue, aiming at the expansion of free trade between regional markets. 

The free trade agreement (FTA) between Mercosur and Viet Nam is a goal by both sides. President Lula has already declared that he will work with the other leaders in MERCOSUR in order to accelerate the agreement with Viet Nam. 

Starting next year, Brazil will assume the Presidency of the G20, unique opportunity to foster coordination among members in defense of a more just, sustainable and peaceful international community, shared the Ambassador. 

Enormous potential for cooperation between Viet Nam, Brazil 

In terms of economic potential between Viet Nam and Brazil, Marco Farani said, the bilateral trade value hit US$7 billion, adding that there is enormous potential to be explored such as agriculture, and green energy. 

Brazil is one of the largest economies in the world. The nation is the 10th largest economy in the world and the largest in Latin America. Brazil has rich natural resources, and also a booming agriculture.

In the first half of 2022 alone, Brazil's trade with ASEAN increased by 91 percent, registering US$17 billion. In 2022, Brazil became a Partner of the ASEAN Sector Dialogue, counting with the valuable support of Viet Nam. The diplomat took this opportunity to reiterate his gratitude to the government of Viet Nam.

Meanwhile, Viet Nam is a fast-growing country, probably be a middle-income country in the next 10 years. Brazil has been optimistic about the growth and economic dynamism of Viet Nam, told the Ambassador, asserting that there is a lot of areas for both sides to work together. 

With complementary economies, and with growing motivations, Brazil and Viet Nam have converging interests in different areas of undeniable importance, such as green agriculture, energy transition, digitalization and innovation.

Both are middle-income countries with large and young populations. Both value peace and stability, and both have an important role to play in international affairs, reiterated Marco Farani. 

Brazil is an example of a green economy. With regard to the environment, it is worth a mentioning that about 90 percent of the Brazilian energy matrix today is renewable so that Brazil can share most of these experience with Viet Nam to achieve its net-zero emissions by 2050. 

Regarding cooperation in education, Viet Nam and Brazil has launched the first Portuguese-Vietnamese dictionary, thanks to the work of the association friendship between Brazil and Viet Nam. It's an important milestone in educational cooperation. 

The Readership program in Ha Noi is part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs education network and currently has about 300 Portuguese students in different stages of training.

The two sides are also planning to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ha Noi University with one university in Brazil to perfect Portuguese for Vietnamese students. They will offer graduate programs leading to the degrees of Maters and PhD in Portuguese language.

Innovation in education, digital transformation, science and technology are focuses of the bilateral relationship in the upcoming time, shared the Ambassador./.