Vietnam, Uruguay start new page in bilateral relations

Vietnamese Ambassador to Argentina, concurrently Uruguay, Duong Quoc Thanh has highlighted the achievements in that nation’s ties with Uruguay over recent times, as well as prospects for future co-operation, in a recent media interview given on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of both nations’ diplomatic relations which began in 1993.

NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue (C) and Speaker of the Senate Beatriz Argimon Cedeira (R) and Speaker of the Chamber of Representatives Sebastian Andujar during the visit to the South American nation in April.

Regarding the various achievements recorded in friendship and joint co-operative relations over the past three decades, as well as the strengths that need to be promoted, Ambassador Thanh said that despite being a small country in South America a population of three million, Uruguay can be viewed as a rare case of success in economic development and social stability in the region.

Overall, Uruguay is the country that boasts the highest per capita income in Latin America, having developed its science and technology sector with 95% of electricity coming from renewable energy sources.

Both nations officially established diplomatic relations on August 11, 1993. Over the past 30 years, friendship and co-operation has been positively developing in the fields of politics, diplomacy, and trade.

Political trust and mutual understanding between the two sides has been continuously consolidated with the use of regular delegation exchanges taking place at all levels along with important co-operation mechanisms such as the Intergovernmental Cooperation Committee and political consultations.

The two sides also maintain bilateral contacts at the UN's sidelines conferences or the Forum for East Asia-Latin American Cooperation (FEALAC). This year will see the two countries celebrate the 30th anniversary of their diplomatic relations, with the highlight being a high-level visit by a National Assembly (NA) delegation led by Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue in April.

This visit will feature many meetings held between senior leaders in both side’s government, ministries, sectors, and localities, with these efforts contributing to deepening mutual understanding whilst consolidating mutual trust at the highest level, thereby openin a new page in bilateral ties in the future.

Discussing the potential of further co-operation between the two countries, both in bilateral relations as well as in international links and at multilateral forums, the Vietnamese diplomat stated that economic co-operation can be seen as an important pillar and is a bright spot in bilateral ties. Indeed, Uruguay has an economy based mainly on agricultural exports

Two-way trade increased from US$27 million in 2007 to over US$100 million in 2019. Last year’s bilateral trade reached US$190 million. However, the trade turnover remains far below their full potential that exists.

There remain plenty of room for both nations to expand collaboration that can be exploited in fields such as cattle breeding, agro-fishery processing industry, biotechnology-genetics, rice varieties, water purifier production technology, and information technology.

Uruguay is keen to export beef and sheep wool to the Vietnamese market, as well as being interested in importing a number of items such as fish, dried tropical fruits, and beer.

At multilateral forums, the two countries continue to promote ties whilst providing mutual support. In line with this, the South American country wants Vietnamese support in joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and has always expressed its support for Vietnam in the process of negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Common Market of South America (MERCOSUR), of which Uruguay is a member, along with Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.

In particular, the two sides agreed to protect the principles and values of international law in dealing with multilateral issues, Ambassador Thanh added.

Mentioning what needs to be done to allow bilateral relations to continue to develop in the coming time, Ambassador Thanh said with the two nations’ desire to develop bilateral relations further, both sides need to continue exchanging high-level delegations at all levels through the Party, State, NA, and other channels. This includes socio-political organisations and people-to-people exchanges in order to deepen the traditional friendship that exists between the two countries.

Both sides believe that relations do not currently meet the two nations’ potential and are keen to bolster ties, not only in politics and economics, but also need to expand co-operation in science, industry, culture, and tourism, not only for the benefit of the two countries, but also to contribute to peace, stability, co-operation, and development in the region.

Discussing the focus of joint co-operation between both this year and in the future, Ambassador Thanh said 2023 has seen Vietnam urge Uruguay to reaffirm its commitment to support the nation in negotiating FTAs with MERCOSUR bloc.

In addition, the two sides continue to promote measures aimed at facilitating goods of both sides to access each other's markets.

The two nations need to further boost trade relations in a bid to match the good political relations and potential of the two countries, especially focusing on bilateral and multilateral frameworks.

Along with this, it can be viewed as necessary to diversify the structure of import and export products with the ultimate aim of increasing the total bilateral trade turnover, as well as encouraging and creating conditions for businesses to work together and access each other's markets.

Within the framework of the visit by NA Chairman Hue, Uruguayan leaders consider co-operation with Vietnam as a good opportunity for the development of the South American country. Indeed, they proposed opening the Vietnam Embassy in Uruguay to further contribute to further elevating bilateral co-operative ties to a higher level in the future.

VOV