High-Profile Delegation From Viet Nam Visits Sri Lanka To Elevate Bilateral Relations In All Spheres
Dr. Bui Van Nghiem, Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of Vinh Long Province, Delegate of the 15th National Assembly and Head of National Assembly Delegation of Vinh Long Province would be leading a high-profile 35-member delegation to Sri Lanka on a 3-day visit to further strengthen and deepen the bilateral relations between Sri Lanka and Viet Nam in spheres such as trade, tourism, industry, agriculture, culture, education, investment and other commercial and economic activity, amongst others. The leader of the delegation, Dr. Bui Van Nghiem is also a senior Member of the apex body of Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV), which is equivalent to a cabinet Minister of the Government of Viet Nam. Before the visit, the Ambassador of Sri Lanka in Viet Nam, Prof A. Saj U. Mendis, had a 45-minute bilateral meeting with the Head of Delegation, Dr. Nghiem at the Head Office of the Communist Party of Viet Nam. Further, this visit was initiated by the Ambassador of Viet Nam in Colombo, Mdm. Ho Thi Thanh Truc, as well as the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Ha Noi. During this visit, the high-level delegation consisting of senior-most officials of the Government of Viet Nam including Minister of Industry and Trade and Central Commission for External Relations of CPV, corporates and business personalities, academia and media, amongst others.
Dr. Bui Van Nghiem, leader of delegation, and Ambassador Mendis
During the two-day visit to Sri Lank, the delegation would be having bilateral meetings with Hon. Prime Minister and Hon. Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka as well as with the Communist Party of Sri Lanka , amongst others. The delegation, since it consists a number of senior business leaders and policy makers, would be having a business meeting with the leading Sri Lankan corporates and Chairman of Kandy City Center as well as visits to Temple of Tooth Relic and Gangarama Temple. The delegation will pay homage to the Statue of the Founding Father of Viet Nam, Ho Chi Minh, at the Colombo Public Library. During the bilateral meeting between leader of delegation, Dr. Bui Van Nghiem, and Ambassador Mendis, both discussed and placed on record that Sri Lanka established Diplomatic Relations with Viet Nam 1971 at the height of Viet Nam War, which leader Dr. Nghiem much appreciated. Further, Mendis stated that Ho Chi Minh visited Sri Lanka on three occasions, then known as Ceylon, in 1911, 1928 and 1946 on his way to Europe. Dr. Nghiem expressed the eagerness and interest of this visit to Sri Lanka which would further enhance both political and commercial landscape and dimension of the two countries.
Prof Mendis did state to Dr. Nghiem that Viet Nam was one of the few countries in the world which had successfully transformed the image from a poverty-stricken and war-ravaged nation to one of the fastest-growing middle-income nations in the world. Further, Prof Mendis stated that Viet Nam would be amongst the five fastest-growing major economies in the world and estimated a growth rate of over 6% under these highly challenging geo-political, geo-economic and geo-strategic milieu. Dr. Nghiem stated that Viet Nam is highly-focused on market-oriented economic policies and trade, which have led Viet Nam to have a bilateral trade larger than the GDP of the country. On the same note, Mendis added that Viet Nam is often being described as an “epicenter of FDI, manufacturing and tourism”, not only in South-East Asia but in the entire world. This is mostly due to the highly focused and meticulously negotiated FTAs and Partnership Agreements with a large number of developed advanced economies, which enable Viet Nam to trade with these countries with almost zero or zero – tariffs. Mendis stated that Sri Lanka is highly-focused on FDI, tourism, exports, agriculture and manufacturing. Mendis also stated that Sri Lanka could be strategically used as a “outsourcing and manufacturing location” to supplement and complement the global supply chain and logistic to the major FDIs in Viet Nam such as Samsung, Intel, Microsoft, Hyundai, Toyota and LG, amongst others. For purposes of record, this delegation from Viet Nam is one of the largest governmental delegations to Sri Lanka since the establishment of diplomatic relations.
Delegations from Embassy of Sri Lanka and from Office of Dr. Bui Van Nghiem at the
Head Office of Communist Party of Viet Nam
15th November 2023 Ha Noi
