Hanoi (VNA) – State President Tran Dai Quang hailed Austria’soutgoing Ambassador to Vietnam Thomas Loidl for his efforts to step upbilateral ties and introduce many Austrian businesses to Vietnam during hisreception for the diplomat in Hanoi on August 29.

He congratulated the diplomat on his very successful working term in Vietnamand wished that in any future positions, he would always be a close friend andwork to foster the cooperation between Austria and Vietnam.

The President was delighted at positive cooperation between the two countriesacross politics, diplomacy, trade-investment, development cooperation,education-training, healthcare and education.

He cited the 2016 two-waytrade value of 2.8 billion USD, which is 10 percent more than 2015’s figure.Austria is the sixth largest European exporter of Vietnam. It is running 28projects with a total registered capital of 138 million USD in Vietnam, ranking39th among 116 countries and territories investing in the country.

He took the occasion to thank the Austrian Government for providing OfficialDevelopment Assistance (ODA) in the fields of railways, healthcare andvocational training. Austria-funded programmes and projects have been productivelycontributing to Vietnam’s socio-economic development and internationalintegration efforts.

He suggested the two sides boosting visit exchanges, especially high-levelones, together with cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and coordinatingin celebrations of the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties tofurther the bilateral ties.

He asked the diplomat to convey his invitation to visit Vietnam to President AlexanderVan der Bellen.

President Quang also suggested Austria to urge the European Union (EU) to soonsign and ratify the European Union-Vietnam free trade agreement (EVFTA) as thedocument will open up new cooperation, investment and business opportunitiesfor their businesses.
 
Ambassador ThomasLoidl stressed that Austria has over the past 45 years proved itself as a very reliablepartner of Vietnam and it focused on political ties and economic and tradecooperation.

He agreed that the two countries should hold more high-level visits to enhancetheir relations while underscoring the important role of cultural cooperationand exchange.

He was glad to see the two countries’ active collaboration at multilateralforums and thanked Vietnam for its support for Austria’s initiatives atinternational forums and organizations.

He affirmed that hewill always spare no effort to cement and ratchet up the cooperation betweenAustria and Vietnam.-VNA