Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Ambassador of Austria to Vietnam Philipp Agathonos. Photo: VOV

PM Chinh proposed the two sides step up cooperative activities to improve trade and investment exchanges. He expressed his belief that the Austrian Parliament’s approval of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) and the European Commission's removal of its IUU yellow card against Vietnamese seafood will create favourable conditions for economic cooperation between Vietnam and the EU in general, and between Vietnam and Austria in particular.

With Austria's strengths in the field of rail transport, the two sides can identify this as a promising field of cooperation in the coming time, focusing on exploiting preferential capital sources, technology transfer and human resource training, Mr. Chinh suggested.

In addition, the two sides need to coordinate closely, enhance exchanges and expand cooperation in the fields of education - training, cultural and artistic exchange, and cooperate to solve global challenges such as responding to climate change, organizing cultural promotion events to the public of both sides to tighten the friendship between the two countries.

Agathonos said Vietnam is an important partner of Austria in Southeast Asia, he expressed his determination and commitment to make every effort to develop the bilateral relations more and more deeply and effectively.

In addition to traditional areas of cooperation, the Austrian Embassy will coordinate closely with Vietnamese partners to find new potential areas of cooperation, especially in the fields of science-technology, education-training, cyber security, nursing staff and railway infrastructure, according to the Austrian Ambassador.