RELATIONS VIETNAM - UKRAINE:
1. Political relations between Ukraine and Vietnam
In 1993-1994, there have been exchanges of visits at the level of foreign ministers of Ukraine and Vietnam, during which several important bilateral agreements were signed.
In the year 2000 the President of Vietnam Tran Duc Luong paid a state visit to Ukraine. A number of intergovernmental and interagency documents were signed in the framework of this visit.
In January 2003 an official visit of the National Assembly Chairman of Vietnam Nguyen Van An to Ukraine was held.
During the meeting of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine A.Yatsenyuk with the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Vietnam Pham Gia Khiem, held in New York on 25 September 2007 in the framework of the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly, an agreement on readmission between Ukraine and Vietnam was signed.
An official visit to Vietnam of the Head of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine V.Lytvyn, held on December 5-7, 2010, promoted the development of bilateral Ukrainian -Vietnamese relations.
On March 25-27, 2011 the state visit of the President of Ukraine to Vietnam was carried out. During this visit a number of bilateral agreements were signed. The main outcome of the visit was the signing of the Joint Declaration on the establishment of comprehensive relations of cooperation and partnership between Ukraine and Vietnam by the Presidents of Ukraine and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which outlines the main directions, forms and mechanisms for further cooperation on a range of bilateral and international issues. This document determines the priorities of cooperation between Ukraine and Vietnam.
On October 4-6, 2011 the official visit of Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Tan Dung to Ukraine took place. In the framework of the visit the 12th meeting of the Ukrainian-Vietnamese Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation was held.
On November 15-16, 2012 the official visit of Prime Minister of Ukraine to Vietnam took place. During this visit a number of bilateral agreements and the Joint Communiqué of the Prime Ministers of Ukraine and Vietnam were signed, which contains an analysis of the current state of relations between the two countries
In the framework of the visit, with the assistance of the Embassy of Ukraine, the Ukrainian-Vietnamese business forum was held.
In 2013 the active political dialogue at the high level between Ukraine and Vietnam continued. The Vietnamese delegation led by the Deputy General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, member of the Politburo, Permanent Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam Secretariat Mr. Le Hong Anh as well as the Vietnamese Parliamentary delegation headed by the First Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam Mr. Huynh Ngoc Son paid official visits to Ukraine.
The visits to Vietnam of the delegations of Ukrainian prosecutor’s office, of Lawyers’ Union of Ukraine took place in 2013.
On September 26, 2014, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine P.A.Klimkin and the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam Pham Binh Minh held a working meeting in New York during the 69-th session of the UN General Assembly. The Ministers discussed the current state of bilateral relations and ways of their enhancement in all spheres. Special attention was paid to the development of trade and economic relations, cooperation in the frame of international organizations and intensification of bilateral contacts at high and the highest levels.
On November 30, 2015 in the framework of the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko had a meeting with Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyễn Tấn Dũng.
Between Ukraine and Vietnam there are bilateral high-level authorities:
– Ukrainian-Vietnamese Intergovernmental Commission on Trade-Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation (13th meeting of the Commission was held on October 1-2, 2012 in Ho Chi Minh City);
– Ukrainian-Vietnamese Joint Subcommittee on Scientific-Technical Cooperation (5th meeting of the Subcommittee was held on December 8-9, 2011 in Hanoi);
– Ukrainian-Vietnamese Intergovernmental Coordination Commission for Military-Technical Cooperation (15th meeting was held on 13-15 November 2014 in Hanoi).
The parties discussed joint actions aimed to intensify political dialogue and enhance trade-economic relations between Ukraine and Vietnam and the ways to use the potential of two countries for increasing the volume of trade and investment.
The State visit of the President of Ukraine L.Kuchma to Vietnam in April 1996 laid the foundation of the bilateral relations at the highest level between the two countries. During this visit the inter-state Agreement on the principles of relations between Ukraine and Vietnam was signed.
In June 1994, the Prime Minister of Vietnam Vo Van Kiet visited Ukraine. One of the important results of the visit was the establishment of the Intergovernmental Ukrainian-Vietnamese Commission on trade-economic and scientific- technical cooperation.
Ukraine and Vietnam historically have traditionally friendly relations. Vietnam has recognized our State on 27 December 1991. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on January 23, 1992. Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in Ukraine started its operations in 1993. Embassy of Ukraine in Vietnam was opened in 1997.
2. Trade and economic cooperation between Ukraine and Vietnam
Trade and economic cooperation between Ukraine and Vietnam is based on the following documents: Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of Vietnam on trade and economic relations (1992); Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of Vietnam on the Ukrainian-Vietnamese Intergovernmental Commission on trade-economic and scientific-technical cooperation (1993) The last 13th meeting of this Commission was held in Ho Chi Minh City in October 2012.
3.Scientific and technical cooperation between Ukraine and Vietnam
Scientific and technical cooperation between the two countries is based on an agreement between the governments of Ukraine and Vietnam on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (1996) and the Agreement between the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and еру National Center for Natural Science and Technology of Vietnam (2000).
This field is reasonably considered as one of the most promising areas of bilateral cooperation. Organizationally it is provided by a Joint Subcommittee on Scientific and Technical Cooperation. The last, fifth meeting of this body was held on December 5-9, 2011 in Hanoi.
4. Cultural and humanitarian cooperation between Ukraine and Vietnam
One of the successful areas of Ukrainian-Vietnamese cultural and humanitarian cooperation is education.Cooperation in educational field is based on the Agreement on cooperation in education sphere between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of Vietnam and on the Plan of bilateral cooperation in the field of art and culture between the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine and the Ministry of Culture, sport and tourism of Vietnam for the years 2011-2015.
In March 2011, the concert of the soloists of the National Academic Ukrainian folk choir of G.Veryovka and exhibition of miniatures by M.Syadrystyi and holograms of Scythian gold took place in Hanoi.
During 2009-2014 the former military advisors and technicians (citizens of Ukraine), who participated in the defending operations in Vietnam, regularly visited this country as well as the groups of Vietnamese schoolchildren during 2009-2013 visited the Artek Children’s camp in Crimea for the International Children’s Festival “Let’s change the world for better”.
In November 2011 the Embassy of Ukraine in Vietnam and the Embassy of Vietnam in Ukraine organized the Cultural Days of Vietnam in Ukraine, which were conducted in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odessa.
In November 2012, the Cultural Days of Ukraine took place in Vietnam. In the frame of this event the concert of the National Academic Ukrainian folk choir of G.Veryovka was held in the cities of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh and Halong, as well as the days of Ukrainian cinema were also conducted.
Presidents of both countries supported the idea to launch the study and teaching of Ukrainian language in the universities of Vietnam and the Vietnamese language in the universities of Ukraine.
During the official visit of the Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Tan Dung to Ukraine in October 2011, a Memorandum of cooperation between Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University and the National University of Vietnam (Hanoi) was signed.