Vietnamese President's visit to further tighten ties with Austria

It is very good to see visits at a high political level, which are so important for fostering our bilateral relations that have been resumed after the COVID-19 pandemic, he said on the threshold of President Vo’s visit.  

Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son visited Austria at the end of September last year, and Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg was here in Viet Nam in mid-April this year.

“The visit of President Vo Van Thuong to Austria is of great importance and significance because the visit will help further strengthen our bilateral relations. We are looking forward to intensifying our cooperation in the economic and educational fields. I think such a visit is always a good opportunity to intensify cooperation and to push further certain projects,” the Ambassador said.

The Ambassador said that he saw great potential for further deepening the two countries’s friendship. For example, in the economic field, there's definitely more room for Austrian investments in Viet Nam. Viet Nam's dynamic economic development, its young population and the growing middle class make the country an attractive location for Austrian companies.

Austria can support Viet Nam in various fields - for example, in strengthening its industrial capacity, but also with the green economy in the field of renewable energies, and in developing public infrastructure, including the health care sector. There are many opportunities and possibilities.

In this context, Austria has also provided soft loans in the last year of around EUR 350 million  for, among others, the development of the health care sector and transport infrastructure, like the railway sector.

Last year, the two countries celebrated the 50th founding anniversary of their diplomatic relations. 

Austria was one of the first countries to establish such relations with Viet Nam back in 1972. 

Since then, relations have developed in an excellent way in various fields, be it political, economic or academic.

Economic relations have developed very well and bilateral trade has increased many folds in the last 20 years.

And last year, the two countries saw a new peak of EUR 1.65 billion (US$1.8 billion USD) in the bilateral trade volume. 

Viet Nam is the largest Asean trading partner of Austria and Austria is between the fifth and seventh most important export market for Viet Nam in Europe. That trend has further strengthened by the free trade agreement between the European Union and Viet Nam, which entered into force in 2020.

Around 60 Austrian companies with subsidiaries in Viet Nam and around one-third of these companies are engaged in the manufacturing sector./.