Vietnamese and Uruguayan Locales Establish Strong Collaboration

Can Tho city and Canelones province of Uruguay recently held their first online meeting to implement the results of National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue’s visit to Uruguay in April 2023.

Attending the meeting on the Uruguayan side were Raul Pollack Giampietro, the Uruguayan Ambassador to Vietnam; Alejandro Garofali Acosta, Ambassador and director of the Department of Institutional Relations at the Foreign Ministry; Francisco Leganini, secretary general of the government, along with trade and investment promotion agency leaders from Canelones.

On the Vietnamese side, there was Ngo Minh Nguyet, Vietnamese Ambassador appointed to Argentina and concurrently Uruguay and Paraguay, along with leaders from the departments of Foreign Affairs, Industry and Trade, Agriculture & Rural Development, Education & Training of Can Tho.

At the first online meeting to implement the results of National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue’s visit to Uruguay in April 2023.

During the meeting, both sides appreciated the visit to Uruguay by NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue in April 2023, which was an important initial step in opening up opportunities for cooperation between the two localities, in accordance with the policies and orientations of both sides. They exchanged their views on the strengths and development potential of their respective localities and identified areas where they can cooperate and complement each other such as agriculture, science and technology, education, culture, among others.

Julio Filippini, director of Canelones’ Investment Promotion Agency, mentioned that Canelones is the second largest economic center of Uruguay, located near the capital Montevido, with a convenient transportation system for easy connection with other provinces of Uruguay.

The province advocates for expanding international cooperation to attract foreign investment and has built a modern infrastructure system including tax-free zones, port and airport systems to facilitate free trade activities.

In addition, Canelones has many strengths in agricultural production, providing 66% of wine, 75% of chicken products and 46% of the country’s fruit, and has many priority policies to promote green and sustainable development.

According to Ho Thi Thanh Bach, Deputy Director of Can Tho Foreign Department, the two sides have identified a number of potential areas of cooperation due to similarities in trade, investment, and culture. They agreed to establish working groups in related fields, including agriculture experience sharing and technology transfer, industry and environment, education, logistics, culture and tourism.

The two sides agreed to inform each other about the composition of each side’s working groups two weeks after the first online meeting between the two localities and closely coordinate to achieve the goal of signing a cooperation document between Can Tho and Canelones in 2024 or early 2025.

In her speech at the meeting, Ambassador Ngo Minh Nguyet affirmed that the Vietnamese Embassy will continue to prioritize promoting economic, trade, investment, cultural cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges between Vietnam and Uruguay. The embassy will also connect and support localities and businesses of both countries to establish cooperative relationships and twinning programs, including cooperation between Can Tho and Canelones.

The embassy will continue to closely coordinate with the Foreign Ministry, branches, and local authorities of Uruguay to promote and create favorable conditions for localities and businesses of both sides to establish and conduct effective and practical cooperation in the future.