Huge potential for cooperation between Vietnamese, Romanian localities: PM Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the meeting with officials of Prahova and the Romanian county's Chamber of Commerce and Industry on January 21, 2024. (Photo: VNA)

ntroducing the county’s economic potential and opportunities of cooperation with Vietnam, officials of the Romanian Government Prahova, and the county’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry said Prahova, a leading industrial, oil and gas, tourism, and cultural hub of Romania, established the twin relationship with Vietnam’s Hoa Binh province in 2019. It is home to the first oil refinery of Romania and the Petroleum-Gas University of Ploiesti, which has long-standing cooperation with the Southeast Asian nation and has considerably contributed to bilateral oil and gas partnerships.

Romanian officials said Vietnam has posted fast growth for years, signed many free trade agreements, and made good use of chances generated by global economic and political changes.

Perceiving that Vietnam will be the next “tiger” of Asia, they called on businesses of Romania and Prahova to grasp opportunities of investment cooperation with the Southeast Asian country. In return, Romania can act as a gateway for Vietnamese goods to enter the European market with a combined population of 500 million.

Prime Minister Chinh appreciated Romania’s assistance and support for Vietnam, saying he is impressed with Prahova’s development, particularly in IT application, digital transformation, public service management, and social security ensuring.

He emphasised achievements in the cooperation in manpower training for the oil and gas industry, a young sector but also a substantial contributor to Vietnam’s development over the nearly 40 years of reforms.

There remains huge potential for locality-to-locality cooperation, which has an important role to play in the two countries’ relations, he noted, adding that some localities of Vietnam and Romania are set to sign cooperation memoranda during his visit.

Vietnam is ready to strengthen ties with Romania, including Prahova, renew old cooperation impetuses, and promote new ones, especially in emerging areas and big trends of the world that both sides have demand for such as digital economy, green economy, circular economy, and sharing economy, the Prime Minister stated.

He pointed out that the two economies boast many complementary advantages, noting as Vietnam has a population of about 100 million while Romania about 23 million, labour could be a new cooperation impulse. Besides, Vietnam will continue investing in and expanding major oil and gas projects, so the two sides can foster partnerships in investment, technology transfer, and manpower training.

Vietnam and Romania have big opportunities and wishes for cooperation. The largest obstacle to their ties now is geographical distance, but it could be addressed by stepping up digital transformation and e-commerce and increasing authorities’ assistance for businesses, according to the leader.

During the trip, Prime Minister Chinh is scheduled to have meetings with top leaders of Romania to identify orientations and measures for augmenting bilateral ties in different fields, including economy, trade, and investment.

He voiced his hope that the two countries’ businesses and localities will cooperate with each other to help realise the common vision and targets, pledging the best possible conditions for their exchanges, partnerships, and cooperation.