(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today (Wednesday, 2 December 2015), at the Knesset, met with an official delegation from Vietnam led by Deputy Prime Minister Hoàng Trung Hải. At the start of the meeting, a memorandum of understanding on diplomatic and political dialogue was signed – by the Israeli Ambassador to Vietnam and the Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister – between the Israeli and Vietnamese foreign ministries.
Prime Minister Netanyahu:
"I welcome you and your delegation. I welcome this formal expansion of our dialogue. Our trade is already robust both ways, which I think is the healthiest. I think there are many opportunities between Vietnam and Israel in so many fields, in almost every field. And we look forward to doing this and we believe our countries can seize the future individually, but better together."
Prime Minister Netanyahu said that Israel would positively consider recognizing Vietnam as a market economy and added that it would be possible to issue a statement to this effect during the negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement. He proposed contributing from the knowledge that Israel has accumulated in research and development, as well as cooperation in the areas of – inter alia – water, bio-technology and agriculture.
Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Hoàng Trung Hải invited Prime Minister Netanyahu to make an official visit to Vietnam; the latter similarly invited his Vietnamese counterpart to visit Israel.