(VOVworld) - The Vietnam-Germany Friendship Association held a ceremony in Hanoi on Tuesday to celebrate Germany’s 24th Unity Day on October 3.

Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang speaks at the ceremony.

Addressing the event, Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang, who is also Chairman of the Association, congratulated the German friends in Vietnam on this occasion. He said since the Vietnam-Germany strategic partnership was established in 2011, bilateral ties have seen encouraging achievements in politics-diplomacy, economy-trade-investment, education-training, and development cooperation.  Germany is Vietnam’s largest trade partner in the European Union with two-way trade reaching 7.7 billion USD last year. Minister Hoang added that the Vietnam-Germany Friendship Association will continue to do its utmost to diversify people-to-people exchanges in a bid to further develop bilateral ties. German Ambassador to Vietnam Jutta Frasch voiced her hope that the association will organize more activities to deepen the flourishing relations between the two countries.