Viet Nam, Canada mark 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties

The milestone provides a solid foundation to start a new chapter for bilateral ties.

The two countries set up their diplomatic relations on August 21, 1973. The relationship was upgraded to a comprehensive partnership level on the occasion of the official visit to Viet Nam by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in November 2017.

The joint statement on the establishment of the comprehensive partnership set out basic principles orienting relations between the two countries, as well as directions and measures to promote cooperation on seven fields namely diplomacy, trade and investment, development cooperation, defense and security, culture and education, technology, and people-to-people exchanges.

The two countries have also maintained regular contacts on the sidelines of high-level international and regional multilateral conferences and forums.

Most recently, at the expanded G7 Summit in Japan, on May 20 this year, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau and discussed bilateral cooperation, as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest. The pair agreed to quickly raise the bilateral trade to US$10 billion from US$7 billion in 2022.

The bilateral security and defense cooperation has been strongly promoted in accordance with the comprehensive partnership framework.

People-to-people exchanges and  linkages between localities are also growing. Cultural weeks and people-to-people exchange events are regularly held in both nations.

Canada considered Viet Nam a priority market for educational cooperation. Currently, there are about 21,000 Vietnamese students learning in Canada.

About 250,000 Vietnamese people are living in Canada, making important contributions to socioeconomic development and to enriching the culture of Canada. Vietnamese cuisine has also become favoured by many Canadians./.