Vietnam and Spain have always attached great importance to strengthening their bilateral cooperation since they officially established diplomatic relations in 1977.

Vietnamese ambassador to Spain Truong Trieu Duong., Photo: VNA

Vietnamese ambassador to Spain Truong Trieu Duong made the remark in a recent interview granted to El Mundo Financiero (the World of Finance) newspaper of Spain on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of Vietnam-Spain diplomatic ties (May 23, 1977-2012).

Vietnam and Spain officially set up a strategic partnership towards the future and signed a joint action program to define the framework of a special relationship between the two countries during the visit to Spain in 2009 by former President Nguyen Minh Triet, the ambassador said.

Duong said that Vietnam considers Spain an important gateway to access the European Union (EU), which is a major trade partner of the country.

Spain currently ranks fourth among the 27 EU nations in trade relations with Vietnam , he added.

He also said that Spain regards Vietnam as a priority partner for developing relations in the Asia and Pacific regions and strives to further expand cooperation between the two nations in a long-term and mutually beneficiary manner.

The Vietnamese diplomat also briefed about Vietnam ’s political and socio-economic situation, saying that despite starting from a war-ravaged low-income nation with an underdeveloped economy, Vietnam has taken full advantage of all opportunities to overcome its difficulties and challenges, especially the negative impacts of the global and regional financial and economic crises, to record political and socio-economic achievements.

Ambassador Duong also highlighted Vietnam ’s outstanding achievements in culture, education, national defense, security and external affairs over the past decade.

He said that Vietnam has been recognized by the UN as a model in poverty reduction and that the country has also continued to attract foreign investment, especially from the US , Japan , the EU and Spain.

According to El Mundo Financiero, Vietnam ranked second in Asia and first in Southeast Asia in economic growth with an average annual rate of 8 percent.

The US-based organization Goldman Sachs also named Vietnam in the Next Eleven (N-11) group of nations that have good investment and economic opportunities, the newspaper said.

Source: VNA