Dublin (VNA) - Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung has suggested Ireland prompt theEuropean Union (EU) to soon sign and ratify the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement(UVFTA) and recognise Vietnam’s market economy.

Deputy PM Dungmade the suggestion during his meeting with Irish Minister of Foreign Affairsand Trade Charles Flanagan in Dublin on April 21, where he affirmed that Vietnamattaches importance to its cooperative ties with Ireland.

The Deputy PM alsocalled on Ireland to provide more scholarships for Vietnamese students andcreate favourable conditions for overseas Vietnamese in Ireland to betterintegrate into the host society.

For his part,Minister Flanagan agreed to work closely with Vietnam in implementingagreements signed during the Vietnam visit by Irish President Michael D. Higgins in 2016, and maintaining delegation exchanges, and all-level meetingsto consolidate the friendship and multi-lateral cooperation between the twonations, with focus on economic-trade relations, development cooperation,agriculture-food, and education-training.

He pledged toboost bilateral economic cooperation in the coming time, facilitate andencouraging the two nations’ enterprises to invest and transfer technology,particularly in the sectors with strong potential, such as renewable energy,high-quality agriculture, food industry, aviation, and information andcommunication technology.

The twoministers agreed to work closely to identify priorities for cooperation in the nationalstrategy between the two nations for 2017-2020, with Ireland’s commitment toassist Vietnam in socio-economic development, poverty reduction and climatechange adaption.

They also consentedto implement effectively agreements on child adoption and facilitating the flowof products into each other’s market.

During hismeeting with Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed, DeputyPM Dung spoke highly of Ireland’s agricultural achievements and urged Irelandto share experience and support Vietnam in hi-tech agricultural developmentwhile strengthening cooperation in forestry, environment and response toclimate change.

He also calledon Ireland to facilitate access to its market for Vietnam’s agro-forestry-fisheryproducts, and to the European market through the nation.

For his part,Minister Creed shared Ireland’s experience in applying advanced technology intraditional farming, making it one of the most prosperous nations in Europe.

The Governmentof Ireland is willing to boost cooperation with Vietnam in diary, pharmaceuticals,meat processing, he said, adding that Ireland also supports promoting theEU-Vietnam relations, thus further facilitating trade and investment tiesbetween the two nations.

He agreed tocooperate with Vietnam in implementing a memorandum of understanding oncooperation in agriculture, signed in 2014, with focus on four key areas,namely providing assistance for training managers of modern agriculture,sharing experience in organic agriculture development, developing safeagricultural production management system and cow farming.

The twoministers agreed to promote delegation exchanges, organise workshops andtraining courses for Vietnam, share advanced technology and scientificapplication in safe agro-forestry-fishery production models.

During the visit,the Vietnamese delegation made field trips to several high-quality cow farms inCork province to learn about the model of clean, high-quality andenvironmentally-friendly agricultural production, and worked with a number ofIrish enterprises in trade, education-training, and agriculture.-VNA