Berlin (VNA) –Vietnamese Ambassador to Germany Nguyen Minh Vu visited Lingen town and Emslanddistrict of the federal state of Niedersachsen, Germany, from October 8 to 10to seek ways to promote nursing cooperation.

The ambassador had workingsessions with Lingen Mayor Dieter Krone and District Administrator of Emsland Marc-André Burgdorf. He also visited and met withleaders of the St. Bonifatius Hospital Society and the Emsland economicassociation.

At the events, Vu updated theGerman side about the two countries’ cooperation, noting that Vietnam currentlyranks first among ASEAN trade partners of Germany while the latter is also theleading EU partner of the Southeast Asian nation. Bilateral cooperation hascovered various fields, from technology, investment to energy and environmentalprotection.

He held that Vietnameselocalities’ partnerships with Lingen and Emsland could be expanded to suchfields as new energy and training of nursing manpower.

The ambassador noted with ayoung population, Vietnam is able to meet German localities’ demand for nursingpersonnel, adding that the two sides can also work together in climate changeadaptation as Vietnam is one of the countries most vulnerable to climatechange.

The leaders of Lingen andEmsland expressed their hope for stronger cooperation with Vietnameselocalities, especially in the field of nursing manpower.

Ansgar Veer, General Managerof the St. Bonifatius Hospital Society, saidabout 60 Vietnamese are learning and working as nurses at establishments ofthis hospital, but the demand for nursing manpower is still on the rise amidpopulation aging.

Bonifatiuschose Vietnam as the supply source of nurses given the Vietnamese people’shospitality, respect for the elderly, learning capacity, the readiness forlearning, and industriousness, according to him.

Ambassador Vu said Germanyviews Vietnam as one of its main supply sources of nursing manpower, and thisstrategy has been included in the work programme of the Federal Ministry ofEconomic Affairs and Energy. Therefore, German localities can seek support fromthe Federal Government to find nursing personnel from Vietnam.

At a separate meeting, the Vietnamesediplomat and representatives from the Emsland economic association discussedcooperation opportunities with Vietnam in manpower supply, trade, andinvestment. He said his embassy is ready to help German enterprises in seekingcooperation and investment opportunities in Vietnam.

Germany is among the mostimportant partners of Vietnam in terms of vocational training. Via vocationaltraining programmes, the number of Vietnamese studying and working in thenursing, tourism, hotel, and technical sectors in the European nation has beengrowing. By the end of 2019, more than 1,000 nurses from Vietnam came to learnand work there, and they received high evaluation.

Germany is forecast to need200,000 foreign nurses between now and 2030./.