Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had bilateralmeetings with many foreign leaders and business executives on January 24 (localtime) on the sidelines of the annualconference of the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2019 in Davos.

TheVietnamese PM attended theInformal Gathering of World Economic Leaders (IGWEL) under the theme TheWorld in the Age of Globilization 4.0, and held a reception for Founder and Executive Chairmanof the World Economic Forum Professor Klaus Schwab. The two then witnessed thesigning of an agreement between the WEF and Vietnam on building a centre forthe Fourth Industrial Revolution, and a letter of intent on developinginitiatives for plastic waste treatment.

At a bilateral meeting with Dutch Queen Maxima who is the UN SecretaryGeneral’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development, PM Phuc informedher that Vietnam is building a national strategy on inclusive finance, whichserves as an important foundation for the country to realise its socio-economicdevelopment targets and the UN’s sustainable development goals in general and inclusivefinance goals in particular.

He took the occasion to invite the Dutch King and Queen to visit Vietnam.

Talking with Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative RegionCarrie Lam, PM Phuc said that as Hong Kong is an important economic partner ofVietnam, both sides should enhance exchanges and meetings.


Vietnamis willing to create favourable conditions for large enterprises from Hong Kongto expand investment in the country, especially in the fields of transport,infrastructure development, electronic spare parts, supporting industry,processing, finance and banking, he said, hoping that Hong Kong firms willactively participate in the equitisation process in Vietnamese state-ownedenterprises.

Speaking highly of the Hong Kong administration’s decision to exempt visas for Vietnamesediplomatic and official passport holders, PM Phuc asked the administration to easevisa requirements for Vietnamese people who come to study, work and runbusiness in Hong Kong.

Receiving Vice President at the European Commission Jyrki Katainen, PM Phuchailed the active development of Vietnam - European Union (EU) ties with deepermutual understanding and trust.

Notingthat the EU is currently the fourth biggest trade partner and the secondlargest export market of Vietnam, the PM urged accelerating procedural work forthe EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) to be signed and ratified in thefirst quarter of 2019, meeting mutual benefits and creating a new momentum forthe bilateral relations, especially economic ties. 

He also hoped the EU will support Vietnam todeal with the illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and soon removethe yellow card against Vietnam’s seafood exports to the EU.

Regarding the East Sea issue, the PM suggestedthe EU continue paying attention to navigation security and safety andsupporting the settlement of disputes in the East Sea via peaceful means and inline with international law, the UN Charter and Convention on the Law of theSea 1982.

Meeting with Romanian Deputy Prime Minister AnaBirchall, PM Phuc affirmed that Vietnam always attaches great importance todeveloping relations with traditional friendly countries in the East-CentralEurope.


The PM congratulated Romania on taking over theEU Presidency in the first six months of 2019. He asked the country to push forthe early signing and ratification of the EVFTA.

The two sides agreed to deepen the bilateralrelations and effectively implement cooperation agreements, including signing aProtocol revising the agreement on double taxation avoidance, an agreement oncooperation in crime prevention and combat, a cultural cooperation programme in2019-2021, and a tourism cooperation agreement.

They also agreed to organise the meeting of theinter-governmental committee on cooperation in economy and science-technologyin 2019.

During his talks with Secretary-General of theOrganisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Angel Gurria, PMPhuc welcomed the organisation’s coordination with Vietnam to build a nationalmultidimensional review report and urged the completion of the report in 2019 toserve the review of the implementation of the socio-economic developmentstrategy in 2011-2020 and the building of a development strategy for 2021-2030.


On this occasion, PM Phuc had a number ofmeetings with major groups in the world such as Siemens, Qualcomn, Google,Total, Allianz, JBIC, GE, and Prudential.-VNA