Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on November 28 received visiting Minister-President of Germany’s State of Hesse Boris Rhein, who said his ongoing trip aims to step up cooperation with Vietnam in economy, education-training, and labour.

PM Chinh stated that Vietnam treasures the development of its Strategic Partnership with Germany, with a priority on cooperation with Hessen. In return, Rhein affirmed the state's desires to strengthen ties with Vietnam.

Both sides noted with pleasure the positive and effective development of Vietnam-Hesse relations. Notably, bilateral trade in recent years has reached approximately 1 billion EUR, accounting for 10% of total trade between Vietnam and Germany. Leading Hesse enterprises, such as Bilfinger & Berger, Messer, Sanofi-Aventis, Fresenius, and Commerzbank, have made effective investments in Vietnam.

The Vietnamese leader outlined six priority areas for enhanced collaboration. He urged the state to support the German Parliament's swift ratification of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) and encouraged its enterprises to expand investment and operations in Vietnam.

He also highlighted the need to further expand the Vietnam-Germany University (VGU), particularly in fields like high technology, finance, banking, semiconductor industries, and artificial intelligence.

PM Chinh called for Hessen and Germany to share expertise in implementing projects on sustainable development, climate change response, clean and renewable energy, serving carbon reduction goals. He also requested support for Vietnam in access to capital sources, management expertise, and workforce training to carry out the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) framework.

The PM recommended the German state to further receive Vietnamese workers and facilitate the integration and working-living conditions of the Vietnamese expat community there.

Rhein affirmed continued backing for the VGU, promoting cooperation between the two sides’ training and research institutes in high-tech, finance-banking, semiconductor, and AI sectors, and maintaining scholarships for Vietnamese students. With Germany's recent approval of a migration labour law, he suggested leveraging this framework to expand Vietnam’s workforce supply for Hesse, thus addressing the state’s labour shortages while offering Vietnamese workers greater employment opportunities in Germany.

In preparation for the 50th founding anniversary of Vietnam-Germany diplomatic relations in 2025, both sides agreed to organise cultural and sports exchanges to enhance mutual understanding.

Rhein praised the Vietnamese community in Hesse for their contributions to the state’s prosperity a💦nd cultural diversity. He affirmed continued support to help the community integrate, preserve their cultural heritage, and act as a bridge of friendship between the two sides./.