Tel Aviv (VNA) – The relationship between Vietnam and Israel isentering a “golden stage” as the two countries regard each other as reliablefriends and partners and their economies have enjoyed good growth in recentyears.

VietnameseAmbassador to Israel Cao Tran Quoc Hai made the comments in an interview grantedto the Vietnam News Agency correspondents in Tel Aviv on bilateral cooperationon the occasion of the 25th anniversary of their diplomatic ties(1993-2018).

The diplomat said that despite geographic distance, Vietnam and Israel haverecorded great achievements in various fields, including politics, economy, security,defence, trade, science-technology, training and tourism.

Political relations have been consolidated via the regular exchange of all-leveldelegations, especially the visits to Vietnam by Israeli President ReuvenRivlin in 2017 and President Shimon Peres in 2011.

In terms of economy, Israel is now one of Vietnam’s leading economic partners inthe Middle East region, with two-way trade reaching over 1 billion USD onaverage in recent three years, Hai said.

At present, Vietnam's staples like telephone, coffee, raw and processed cashewnuts, footwear and garment are making up a large market share in Israel (about 10-20percent). Notably, the Southeast Asian nation is among the top three exportersof processed tuna products to Israel, he added.

Regarding education-training, the ambassador stated that Vietnam annually sendsmore than 700 apprentices to study and work in Israel, the highest number amongthe Middle East country’s sources of apprentices.

In addition, the Israeli provides hundreds of short-term scholarships forVietnamese officials and experts to join training courses organised by Israelon startup, innovation, hi-tech agriculture, education, leadership and genderequality, contributing to developing high-quality human resources for Vietnam.

Many Vietnamese corporations and companies have imported high technologies fromIsrael to develop large-scale agricultural projects in Vietnam.  Among those are the project to grow safevegetables in greenhouses in Vinh Phuc and other provinces by VinEco Company, asubsidiary of Vingroup, and the milk cow farming project by TH True Milk inNghe An province. Can Tho city, and An Giang, Kien Giang and Dong Thapprovinces are applying Israeli technologies in producing breeding tilapia andshrimp.

Tourism cooperation between the two countries has seen encouraging growth overyears. In 2017, Israeli tourists to Vietnam numbered 25,000. Vietnam is increasinglybecoming a favourite destination for Israeli holidaymakers thanks to itsbeautiful landscapes, delicious food and people’s hospitality.

Bilateral cooperation mechanisms such as the Inter-Government Committee and thePolitical Consultation have been implemented regularly and effectively, playingan important role in reviewing and promoting collaboration between Vietnam andIsrael.

However, Ambassador Hai noted that two-way trade in recent years has not yetmatched potential and relations of the countries.

In order to raise bilateral trade to 3 billion USD in the years to come, alongwith speeding up the negotiation for a Vietnam-Israel Free Trade Agreement, thetwo sides should increase investment and trade promotion activities as well ascontinue encouraging and creating favourable conditions for businesses to makeinvestments in both Vietnam and Israel, he said.

Israel has huge demand for foreign labour, especially in the fields of agriculture,health and construction, while Vietnam boasts abundant, hardworking andwell-trained human resources.

The two nations should soon kick off negotiations for a bilateral labourcooperation agreement in order to enable Vietnamese workers to work in Israel’sagricultural sector.

In addition, Vietnam and Israel may consider opening a direct air route, thus facilitatingthe travel of businesspeople and tourists, he added.

According to Hai, during President Reuven Rivlin’s visit to Vietnam in March2017, the two countries’ leaders agreed to make economy and science-technologypriorities in bilateral cooperation currently and in following years.

Entering the era of Industry 4.0, scientific and technological cooperation willbecome more necessary, with huge potential. The two nations can cooperate inareas of Vietnam’s demand and Israel’s strengths like hi-tech agriculture,state management, education-training, telecommunications, cyber security, smartcity building and startup ecology development.

The ambassador stressed that 25 years marked important milestones in the friendshipand cooperation between Vietnam and Israel. However, all the above-mentioned achievementsare just initial steps.

He expressed his belief that the bilateral collaboration will be furtherconsolidated and developed in all aspects, gaining more effective and practicalachievements for the benefits of the two countries’ people.-VNA