President of Finland, Tarja Halonen and her spouse Pentti Arajärvi will pay an official visit to Vietnam from February 21-23 at the invitation of Vietnamese President Nguyen MInh Triet, state media said Monday.
This is the first high-profile visit by the Finnish president, 65, since the two countries established the diplomatic ties January 25, 1973.
Accompanying Ms. Tarja Halonen are 20 leading firms of Finland in the fields of IT, telecom, shipbuilding, elevator-manufacturing, aviation, pharmacy, paper pulp industry, energy, mining and metallurgy and banking, Voice of Vietnam said.
Finland President Tarja Halonen is expected to have discussions with President Nguyen Minh Triet, Chairman of National Assembly Nguyen Phu Trong and pay a courtesy visit to Party Chief Nong Duc Manh.
The two sides are expected to sign several cooperation pacts on science and technology and a memorandum of understanding on aviation, hold a trade and investment conference, a roundtable on gender equity.
On the sidelines of ASEM 6 summit, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung had meetings with Finland high-ranking officials to boost the bilateral trade and investment cooperation.
Last year, the two-way trade estimated at US$190 million, up 26 per cent on year and Finnish investors poured US$28 million.
Finland is a traditional ODA provider for Vietnam with the pledged US$31.7 million for this year. (VNA, VOV)
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