Interview : Tazeen Akhtar
Pictures : Raja Ghulam Fareed
H.E. Mr. Pham Anh Tuan assumed the charge of Ambassador of Socialist Republic of Viet Nam at the end of July 2024. He presented his credentials to the President of Pakistan on 13 Aug 2024. He met with President separately at this occasion and discussed matters of bilateral interest. Viet Nam is emerging economy in the South East Asia. An active and important member of Association of South East Asian Nations ASEAN where Pakistan is aspirant of full dialogue partner. Vietnam’s area is 331,344.82 Sq Km, population 100,300 Million that makes Vietnam 10th in the World. Total GDP is $1.559 Trillion.
Viet Nam has improved her economy and took a new turn soon after the destruction of war in 1980s. Todays Viet Nam is not the same that Pakistanis saw on tv screens 40 years ago. Viet Nam is rapidly developing country in all spheres of life. The credit goes to the leadership of Vietnam who selflessly worked hard to make their nation stand on its feet and walk with confidence shoulder by shoulder with other nations of the region and the world.
Viet Nam is celebrating 79th anniversary of the National Day. On this auspicious occasion, The team Pakistan in the World interviewed the Ambassador and asked him about the key achievement of Viet Nam during the 79 years of its independence.
H.E. Mr. Pham Anh Tuan shared, Exactly 79 years ago, on September 2nd, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh, the great leader of Viet Nam, read out the immortal Declaration of Independence, giving birth to a new Viet Nam – the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam, which is now the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam.
Over the past 79 years, the story of Viet Nam has been impressive to the world from the triumphs over the wars of resistance to the success of Doi Moi Reform making Viet Nam today a strong, democratic, open nation and the fastest-growing economy in the world. The national re-unification in 1975 marks the glorious end of the national liberalisation struggle of the Vietnamese people in the North and the South.
The transformation from a centralised backward agricultural economy facing constant food shortages to a leading exporter of farm products worldwide, ensuring food security for the more than 100 million population, has been one of Viet Nam’s greatest achievements.
Graduating from low-income status in 2008, Viet Nam at present is among the 40 largest economies in the world and the 4th in ASEAN. Per-capita income has increased seventeen-fold to over US$4,300, leveling Viet Nam with middle-income countries.
In the context of Vietnam as a poor and war-torn country, with devastated human lives, infrastructure, environment, and diversity in terms of geography, language, religion, culture, and ethnicity, the country’s journey towards development and prosperity is an inspiring one.
Political stability, openness, strong democratic institutions, a decentralised system of governance based on the rule of law and the principle “of the people, by the people, for the people” have contributed to what Viet Nam’s society is today.
Viet Nam’s foreign policy built on independence, self-reliance, multilateralism, diversification, peace, friendship, cooperation and proactive integration, has “borne fruits”.
Viet Nam has joined ASEAN since 1995 and maintained robust relations with almost all the countries in the world and has 30 strategic partnerships and comprehensive partnerships; and signed 17 free trade agreements, including comprehensive FTAs such as CPTPP, EVFTA and RCEP.
Viet Nam recently became a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council and has joined the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Africa.
To a question on what are your priorities to work upon for enhancing the bilateral cooperation like trade, B2B, P2P, tourism, Gandhara Buddhist tourism, Ambassador replied,
“From taking office at the end of July 2024 to now, The Pakistani country and people have given me warm sentiments and very good feelings. I see that Pakistan has plenty of natural resources with good prospects for better economic growth and Vietnam wanted to further boost bilateral trade ties with Pakistan.
Vietnam and Pakistan have great potential to complement each other’s economies by developing close economic cooperation. Pakistan produces some good quality products including pharmaceuticals, surgical instruments, and textile and it has great scope to enhance its exports to Vietnam as our country welcomes competitive products in its market.
Vietnam’s annual imports were around USD 300 billion and Pakistani entrepreneurs should make strong efforts to get better market share in the Vietnamese market.
Vietnam and Pakistan have been discussing a preferential trade agreement that would help improve bilateral trade volume between the two countries. Vietnam could export electric vehicles to Pakistan.
When you think of cars, you don’t immediately think of Vietnam….BUT
The “VinFast” project aims to change awareness in the future. VinFast was born out of the desire to build a world-class Vietnamese automobile brand while contributing to promoting a leading industry in Vietnam.
After almost two years, VinFast has completed the construction and installation of the factories and also launched the first cars. With a design capacity of 250,000 vehicles per year for phase 1, and 500,000 cars per year for phase 2, VinFast aims to become a leading automobile manufacturer in Southeast Asia.
The company is also complete in research, development and production of vehicles using clean energy, such as electric cars and smart electric motorbikes, with the aim to significantly reduce the amount of gas emissions and noise to the environment.
Both countries should sign an investment agreement to attract investors from each other country. Vietnam was a member of ASEAN and close cooperation with Vietnam would help Pakistan to get easy access to ASEAN market.
Regarding tourism, Pakistan is a country of a long history and a unique culture, considered a tourist “paradise” with many famous landmarks, and landscapes. Furthermore, Pakistan is important to Buddhist history because it is the cradle of Buddhism. Gandhara civilization was an essential component of the ancient Indian subcontinent’s culture.
Buddhism flourished during this time, as seen by the emergence, and development of core Theravada Buddhist concepts. This era also saw the construction of numerous Buddhist structures, many of which are now recognized as UNESCO World Heritage sites.
Viet Nam is known as an attractive destination for international tourists in general and Pakistani tourists in particular, Over thousands of years of nation-building and preservation, the remaining historical relics serve as evidence of time and are included in poetry and history books, such as the Temple of the Hung Kings, Hoan Kiem Lake – Hanoi, Hoa Lu Ancient Capital – Ninh Binh,… or famous religious tourist Bai Dinh Pagoda, Perfume Pagoda,…
In particular, Viet Nam always takes great pride in numerous beautiful landscapes that captivate people’s hearts, including many UNESCO-recognized world heritage sites: Ha Long Bay, Hoi An Ancient Town, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park.
H.E. Mr. Pham Anh Tuan said, Tourism cooperation has genuinely been a concern of the governments of the two countries since 2014, many cooperative activities and tourism promotions have been effectively implemented, attracting the participation of tourism associations and businesses from both countries.
Vietnam and Pakistan have organized many activities to promote the exchange of academics, experts, and various cultural, arts, audiovisual, and literary activities; such as the recent organization of the “Cultural Diplomacy: Reviving Gandhara Civilization and Buddhist Heritage in Pakistan in 2023, Symposium and exhibition titled “Gandhara to the World in 2024.
Two sides were necessary to better exploit the potential and advantages to serve the cooperation and common development of the two countries; further expand cooperative activities related to tourism; to promote and soon open direct flights between Vietnam and Pakistan, thereby promoting trade, investment, and tourism activities between the two sides.
Besides, I would say connecting our people…
Mr. Pham Anh Tuan said, I think that is the most fundamental foundation of any relationship and that’s an area where I would like to focus more to be able to promote our people-to-people exchanges. That requires connectivity – generating awareness about our history of splendid interaction and cooperation.
I would like to do that by reaching out to the youth. We have doing that by visiting universities in entire Pakistan and talking to students about Viet Nam – Pakistan relations, about how much we have contributed to each other’s national development, how we have stood by each other during difficult times and how we have always been steadfast partners in our developmental journey. It is very important to make the youth of our countries understand the significance of this partnership.
Viet Nam hopes to join hands with Pakistan to address traditional & non-traditional security challenges
I am also interested in showcasing our shared mutual Buddhist connection.
If you look at our shared Buddhist heritage, I think it provides a very strong foundation for our contemporary bilateral ties as well. The Buddhist monuments in Vietnam, again, are excellent examples of how closely we were linked with each other even in those days. So, these are some areas that I would like to focus more on to bring our people closer together. That is the foundation for building the future of our relationship.
To be honest, I always remind myself that I am here with the assignments from our Party, State Government, and Vietnamese people to boost up the relations comprehensively and in all fields with Pakistan.
To those goals, we should spare no effort to elevate people-to-people contact, and strengthen mutual understandings between our peoples; the cultural, educational, tourism, religious exchange and interactions also are the keys to the economic and political nexus and the development of comprehensive bilateral relations.
I look forward to closely working with all of the Pakistani relevant authorities, people, business and all other circles for the bright future of Viet Nam – Pakistan ties.
To another question that Viet Nam is important member of ASEAN , Pakistan is seeking full dialogue partner status, how do you see Pakistani keenness in this regard and what role Vietnam can play in this connection?
Ambassador responded, ASEAN has historical ties, friendly relations and long-standing multifaceted cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. ASEAN and Pakistan are making more and more efforts to promote stronger cooperation and linkage in all fields, including politics, culture, science and technology, education and training, especially in trade and investment.
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ASEAN is considered the fastest-growing economic region in the world and is expected to be the world’s consumption centre by 2030, owing to its market size. The bloc is currently the fifth-largest economy in the world and is emerging as a new global hub for trade, exchange, and innovation.
Trade volume between ASEAN and Pakistan reached approximately USD 11.0 billion in fiscal year 2022 and we do believe that this number will continue to increase rapidly in 2024 and the years to come, because the RCEP as well as new economic policies of the Pakistan Government will create more favorable conditions for trade between the two sides, promoting the huge potential between ASEAN and Pakistan.
H.E. Mr. Pham Anh Tuan said, Regarding multilateral trade in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Pakistan’s trade interests with this trading bloc, ASEAN has signed the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand from which all the regional countries are benefiting. Pakistan has Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP) -Plus agreement with Europe countries and FTA with other countries, now both sides can promote bilateral trade under one agreement.
ASEAN also appreciates Pakistan for resolving regional issues and achieving significant strides in advancing regional cooperation
It is important for Pakistan to further strengthening its multi-dimensional relations with Pakistan, including through enhanced connectivity and people-to-people contacts. We are supporting and hope Pakistan will contribute more in promoting and preserving peace, stability and prosperity in the region.
Vietnam is an important member of ASEAN, having joined with the motto “actively, proactively and responsibly”, during the past years, Viet Nam has made many contributions to a unified, united, peaceful, stable and developed ASEAN. Viet Nam would play its full role in paving the way for Pakistan’s trade with the bloc.
Trading with or investing in Viet Nam or any ASEAN member countries will help Pakistan walk in the rest of the members’ market. ASEAN and Pakistan should optimize the potential in populations, industries, labor forces, natural resources and the scales of the economy also.
H.E. Mr. Pham Anh Tuan concluded, Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) between Pakistan and Vietnam has also been proposed. In the upcoming fifth meeting of the ‘Vietnam-Pakistan Trade Committee Plan’ both sides will discuss the two top agendas of bilateral trade and investment, the PTA and the agreement on mutual investment.
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