Vietnam, Northern Ireland forge multi-faceted cooperation: Vietnamese Ambassador to the UK Nguyen Hoang Long at the meeting with Chief Executive at Belfast Chamber of Trade & Commerce Simon Hamilton. (Photo: VNA)

The visit took place within the Vietnam-UK friendship year 2023 which marks the 50th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties.

During his stay in Belfast, Long met with Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly Alex Maskey, Secretary at Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) Katrina Godfrey, DAERA Deputy Secretary Norman Fulton, Director of Europe Strategy Division and International Relations at the Northern Ireland Executive Office Lynsey Moore, and Chief Executive at Belfast Chamber of Trade & Commerce Simon Hamilton.

The Ambassador also had working sessions with representatives of Ulster University and Queen’s University Belfast.

On this occasion, the Embassy coordinated with relevant agencies in setting up a Vietnamese booth at Balmoral Show, Northern Ireland's largest agri-food event, and organising a workshop on educational cooperation between Vietnam and Northern Ireland.

At the meetings, Long spoke highly of socio-economic achievements Northern Ireland has recorded over the past time, particularly in agriculture, research, education, science, technology and green energy, and expressed his hope that it will become Vietnam’s important partner in those areas.

He suggested Northern Ireland soon dispatch a delegation to Vietnam this year to learn about the market in order to boost agricultural and food trading between the two sides.

Vietnam, Northern Ireland forge multi-faceted cooperation: Ambassador Nguyen Hoang Long at Balmoral Show. (Photo: VNA)

The Ambassador also expressed his hope for stronger collaboration in education, culture and tourism.

The Northern Ireland side held that the two sides boast great potential for cooperation, especially in trade, education, tourism, culture and people-to-people exchange.

Local officials agreed to accelerate the signing of a cooperation agreement with Vietnam, and send a trade promotion delegation to Vietnam later this year.

Priorities should be given to such cooperation areas as higher education, scientific research, innovation, health care, life science, computer science, cyber security, cyber technology, and agriculture in combination with trade and business, they said.