Hanoi (VNA) – Thenew Argentinian Ambassador to Vietnam, Luis Pablo Maria Beltramino, hasaffirmed his country’s willingness to upgrade its relations with Vietnam to a strategicpartnership, especially when the two sides are preparing to mark the 50th founding anniversary of their diplomatic ties in 2023.

Talking to the Vietnam NewsAgency after presenting his credentials to President Nguyen Xuan Phuc,Beltramino expressed his honour to be appointed Ambassador of Argentina toVietnam and pledged all-out efforts to continue promoting the solidarity,friendship, and cooperation between the two countries, which set up their comprehensive partnership in 2010.

Valuing the flourishing extensivecooperation, he highlighted its three pillars of political dialogue, trade, andtechnical collaboration.

The ambassador noted thepolitical dialogue mechanism has been deployed in the form of all-level mutualvisits, especially those at high levels.

Meanwhile, he went on, thetwo economies are complementary to each other, and Argentina is ready todiversify products to meet Vietnam’s demand. On the other hand, the Southeast Asiannation also boasts a number of high-quality products like technology,textile-garment, and footwear, which are all popular in his country.

The seventh meeting of theinter-governmental committee on economic-trade and scientific-technologicalcooperation will take place in August to discuss trade opening, Beltraminoannounced.

He applauded theeffectiveness of bilateral technical cooperation over the last two decades, noting theimplementation of 15 joint projects in various fields, including industry andagriculture, which are the strengths of both Argentina and Vietnam.

The diplomat also talkedabout bilateral collaboration in forensic anthropology, in which the SouthAmerican nation has been helping Vietnam to identify war martyrs.

Expressing hisdelight at the growth of the comprehensive partnership through multiple signedagreements, the ambassador highlighted potential fields for future cooperation,such as high tech and satellite services for peace purposes, for examples,supporting the study of soils, meteorology and agricultural productionefficiency, of which Argentina holds competitive advantages.

Beltramino alsohighly spoke of the two countries’ mutual support for each other and exchangesof views in addressing the world’s emerging challenges, namely climate change,human assistance, peacekeeping, observation of UN Charter and COVID-19response. He expected Argentina and Vietnam will strengthen ties to togethertackle these challenges for the benefits of the two peoples.

He took theoccasion to congratulate Vietnam's national football team on advancing to thethird round of World Cup qualification for the first time. He proposed the twocountries to cooperate in training players, saying promoting relations betweentheir football federations and football clubs is a good idea, which will not onlyboost the development of the sport in Vietnam but also contribute totightening the bilateral ties.

Argentina, onthe other hand, is very interested in developing badminton, a very popularsport in Vietnam, he said.

Argentina wasone of three Latin American countries, together with Cuba and Chile, to establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam before 1975. The bilateraldiplomatic ties were set up on October 25, 1973.

Argentina is nowVietnam’s third largest trade partner in Latin America, after Brazil andMexico, with two-way trade reaching 3.95 billion USD in 2020, an increase of 4.3percent from the previous year.

According to theVietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade, the bilateral trade totalled 440million USD in the first two months of this year, of which Vietnam’s exports toArgentina hit 174 million USD, up 164.52 percent year-on-year./.