Brian Jeffrey
Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and EC Vice President Josep Borrell Fontelles visited the Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts on July 30, where they enjoyed coffee and admired renowned Vietnamese artworks.
The museum boasts a collection of 20,000 valuable artifacts, sculptures, paintings, and graphic works spanning ancient to modern periods.
Fontelles took in notable Vietnamese artworks like “Young Woman in the Garden” and “Landscape” by Nguyen Gia Tri, “Uncle Ho in the Viet Bac Resistance Zone” by Duong Bich Lien, and “Little Thuy” by Tran Van Can.
While looking at “Little Thuy,” the museum’s Director, Nguyen Anh Minh, likened it to Vietnam’s own version of the renowned Mona Lisa.
Following the art viewing, Minister Bui Thanh Son and VP Josep Borrell Fontelles discussed cooperation matters over iced milk coffee in the museum courtyard, joined by Ambassador Nguyen Van Thao and EU Ambassador Julien Guerrier.
At a subsequent press conference, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son thanked Fontelles for representing the EU at General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s State Funeral, highlighting the EU’s respect for General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and Vietnam.
VP Josep Borrell Fontelles extended his condolences to the Vietnamese people for General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s passing, recognizing his contributions to Vietnam’s international standing and Vietnam-EU relations.
Both sides expressed contentment with the progress in Vietnam-EU relations across political, trade, defense, development, justice, and agriculture sectors.
The EU stands as Vietnam’s fourth-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade hitting $58.5 billion in 2023 and $24.7 billion in the first half of this year, marking a 16% rise from the same period in 2023. The EU also ranks as the fifth-largest investor in Vietnam with close to $30 billion in FDI. Vietnam is the EU’s 16th biggest trading partner globally and the largest in ASEAN.
Looking ahead, both parties agreed to leverage existing cooperation mechanisms for problem-solving and to propose new collaborations, emphasizing strengthened partnerships in areas like science, technology, environment, climate change response, human resource development, sustainable growth, UN peacekeeping, post-war recovery, and crime prevention.
Tran Thuong – Pham Hai
