PM Pham Minh Chinh (R) and President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh (Photo: VNA)

During last week’s state visit to Vietnam by President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh – the fourth presidential visit by Mongolia in the past decade – the two nations have built a plan to double bilateral trade in the near future.

Trade between the two countries already doubled to $85 million in 2022 from $41.4 million in 2017, and the value stood at about $75 million in the first eight months of this year.

To implement the new target, the two countries will increase the operations of their Inter-governmental Committee for Economic, Trade, and Scientific-Technical Cooperation along with a boost in bilateral activities in connecting businesses and trade promotion, while also raising mining cooperation.

Last week, Vietnam State President Vo Van Thuong and Mongolian counterpart Khurelsukh witnessed the signing ceremony of several bilateral cooperation agreements spanning various domains, including security, trade and investment, visa exemption for ordinary passport holders, and animal quarantine.

The signed agreements will create an important legal basis for the two countries to remove obstacles, and promote collaboration in the fields where both have strengths such as agriculture, mining, and tourism, while contributing to balancing two-way trade, said Vietnamese Ambassador to Mongolia Doan Khanh Tam.

Vietnam is home to only four Mongolian-funded projects, registered at merely $1.1 million. Both nations will celebrate 70 years of diplomatic ties in November 2024.

Meanwhile, last week saw Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen adopt a joint statement on a green strategic partnership during their online talks. The partnership focuses on 10 specific sectors (see box).

“The new partnership will contribute to further consolidating and deepening the Comprehensive Partnership between the two countries and to creating a greener, cleaner, and more sustainable world,” said PM Chinh.

Meanwhile, PM Frederiksen also said, “The new partnership will pave the way for green cooperation, bring prosperity to the peoples of the two countries, and contribute to the international community’s common efforts in materialising sustainable development goals.”

Vietnam and Denmark have agreed to coordinate closely in promptly formulating a plan to implement the partnership, strengthen cooperation in policymaking, share experience, and facilitate investments into each other countries in green fields.

When it comes to trade and business collaboration, Vietnam and Denmark will seek to strengthen Vietnamese companies’ capacity and deepen their involvement in contributing to sustainable value chains, the joint statement said.

Bilateral trade has increased $480 million in 2013 to nearly $900 million last year, and $372 million in the first eight months of this year. Currently, Denmark has 166 valid ventures in Vietnam, registered at nearly $2 billion.