Azernews.Az

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan and Vietnam enjoy significant opportunities to develop cooperation in all fields, in particular in the fields of energy, agriculture, tourism, education and culture.

This was noted in an article of Azerbaijani Ambassador to Vietnam Anar Imanov, published on Viet Nam News website on the day of the 25th anniversary of the January 20 tragedy in Baku.

“Twenty-five years have passed since January 20, 1990, which went down in the history of the Azerbaijani people as the Bloody January tragedy,” the article said. “This history was written with the blood of the martyrs who sacrificed themselves in recognition of Azerbaijan's independence.”

Imanov also noted on October 18, 1991, the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopted a Declaration of Independence which was affirmed by a nationwide referendum in December 1991, when the Soviet Union was officially dissolved.

After regaining its independence Azerbaijan started building diplomatic relations with foreign countries, including Vietnam. The diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on September 23, 1992, the article stressed.

“In general, Azerbaijan and Vietnam share long-standing historical relations,” the article said. “The foundation of traditional and friendly relations between the two countries was laid by the President Ho Chi Minh's visit to Azerbaijan in 1959 and Azerbaijani people's national leader Heydar Aliyev's visit to Viet Nam in 1983.”

During the Soviet period a lot of Vietnamese students got higher education degrees in Azerbaijan and today most of them are represented in the different state and governmental structures of Viet Nam, the ambassador said.

“Azerbaijan's oil and gas specialists exchanged experience with their Vietnamese colleagues and actively participated in the development of Vietnam's oil and gas industry,” the article said.

In the last two years relations between the two countries were boosted with the establishment of the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Vietnam in 2013 and the state visit of President Ilham Aliyev to Vietnam, on May 18-19, 2014, the ambassador noted.

Azerbaijan and Vietnam have set a common goal to increase their bilateral trade turnover to $1 billion in the near future.

Currently, the trade turnover between the two countries amounts to about $400 million, and major part of it accounts to oil that Vietnam purchases from Azerbaijan.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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