vietnam espagne 22mai2

STRONG RELATIONS BETWEEN VIET NAM AND SPAIN

   Madrid, May 20 (VNA) -- The political, economic, commercial and cultural ties between Viet Nam and Spain have registered strong developments in recent times.
   These developments were seen after Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai made a visit to Spain last October and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar issued a decision specifying Viet Nam as one of the nations eligible to the priority in Spain's foreign cooperation and development policy in Asia.
   The two countries established their diplomatic ties on May 23, 1977, however, their bilateral relations remained very modest in the first decade.
   Since 1986, when Viet Nam started the renovation and open-door economic policy, and Spain officially became a member of the European Economic Community (the precusor to the European Union (EU)), the bilateral relations of the two countries began showing signs of development.
   Spain provided Viet Nam with USD 30.4 million to help settle its foreign debt at the Paris and London Clubs' conferences, and supported Viet Nam's efforts to normalise its ties with international credit organisations and international banks such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB).
   Meanwhile, Viet Nam, proceeding from its foreign policy of multilateralisation, diversification, openness and dynamism, has concurrently intensified the exchange of contacts to consolidate its political and diplomatic relations, and set up and broaden its economic ties to new markets in Spain and other European countries, particularly after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern European bloc.
   In July of 1994, State Secretary for External Commerce Apolonio Ruiz Ligro visited Viet Nam and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on a USD 80 million aid package to Viet Nam in the 1995-96 period.
   In February of 1996, Spanish Foreign Minister Carlos Westendorf paid an official visit to Viet Nam.
   The following year, 1997, the Spanish Government opened an economic and trade representative office in Ho Chi Minh City and an Embassy in Ha Noi with the aim of further developing its political ties and economic, trade and cultural cooperation with Viet Nam.
   In the fields of economy and trade, Spain imported goods worth USD 270 million from Viet Nam in 2000. It imported mainly coffee, tea, garments and textile products, footwear, seafood, timber products, rubber and handicraft items.
   Meanwhile, Spain's exports to Viet Nam stood at just USD 50 million, quadrupling the figure of 1996 with products ranging from X-ray equipment, aluminium, agricultural machinery, paint, fertilizer, chemicals, porcelain products, to public transport means.
   As one of the European Union's member countries that have actively financed Viet Nam's development, Spain has approved a USD 180 million package for two Spain-Viet Nam Financial Programmes, including a financial assistance programme worth USD 135 million that was signed during the visit to Viet Nam by Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Economics, Rodrigo Rato last September.
   In recent years, the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation has granted scholarships to Vietnamese officials to study and do research in Spain, as well as opened courses on the Spanish language in the Ha Noi Foreign Language Teachers' Training College and the Ho Chi Minh City National University. The agency will aid the teaching of the Spanish language on television.
   For its part, Viet Nam has sent artistic troupes to international cultural festivals held in Spain.
   Last October, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai led a high-level government delegation including representatives of 80 businesses to visit Spain at the invitation of his Spanish counterpart, Jose Maria Aznar.
   At the talks between the two Prime Ministers, and a seminar on Viet Nam-Spain economic and trade ties, the two sides agreed to intensify efforts to sign an agreement on bilateral investment protection and encouragement and an agreement on double-taxation avoidance as early as possible.
   On this occasion, the Spanish government asserted that Viet Nam is one of three Asian nations benefiting from top priority in Spain's Asian policy on foreign relations and cooperation and development. It has urged businessmen of the two countries to accelerate their ties and seek opportunities for investment and economic cooperation in the other country.
   Earlier this year, Queen Sofia de Grecia and State Secretary for Development and Cooperation Miguel Angel de Cortes paid an official visit to Viet Nam during which they expressed their special interest in charitable programmes supporting disadvantaged children and victims of the Viet Nam war.
   Recognising Spain's strategic position in Europe and its influence on the Latin American and Carribbean countries economically and culturally, the Vietnamese state decided to open an embassy in Madrid in April this year with the aim of further boosting bilateral political, economic, commercial and cultural ties and helping the Spanish people better understand Viet Nam's current renovation process, Vietnamese Charge d'affaires in Spain Nguyen Xuan Phong said.
   At present, Viet Nam is an attractive tourist destination to Spanish tourists with more than 15,000 Spanish arrivals in the country in 2000.--Enditem