Vietnam and Canada established diplomatic relations 40 years ago. During this time, the governments and the peoples of the two countries have maintained and strengthened bilateral relations, particularly evidenced by rapidly increasing trade, education, development assistance and investment.
High-level political engagement between the two countries has increased in the past years. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper travelled to Hanoi during the APEC Summit 2006, and earlier in June 2005, former Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai paid a visit to Canada. Former Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem made an official visit to Canada in September 2009. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung visited Canada in June 2010 to attend the G20 Meeting in Toronto as the President of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Former Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon travelled to Hanoi in July 2010 to attend the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference (PMC) and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). Canadian Governor General David Johnston visited Vietnam as part his State visit to Southeast Asia in November 2011.
There is a 180,000 member Vietnamese Canadian community in Canada. Several trade, cultural and charity delegations to Vietnam have been organised with Vietnamese Canadian involvement.
Bilateral merchandise trade between Vietnam and Canada has increased steadily over the past decade. The two-way trade turnover reached an all-time high of nearly US$1.46 billion in 2011. Canada’s merchandise imports from Vietnam were valued at US$1.3 billion, while exports were worth nearly US$300 million. Statistics Canada reports that the stock of Canadian direct investment in Vietnam was US$89 million at the end of 2010. Canadian companies have found opportunities in Vietnam in a variety of sectors, including agriculture, agricultural foods, education and training, forest industries, oil and gas, and information and communication technology (ICT).
Canada restored official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam in 1990 and has since provided approximately US$770 million in development assistance through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in support of Vietnam’s economic reform and poverty alleviation initiatives. In 2009, as part of Canada's new aid effectiveness agenda, Vietnam was selected by CIDA as a country of focus. CIDA's current programming responds to the Government of Vietnam's poverty reduction priorities and focuses on improving the enabling environment for investment and on supporting rural enterprise development and agricultural productivity.
CIDA focuses on increasing agricultural productivity, especially at the provincial level, by supporting technical assistance and other services to farmers and government agencies in order to improve production and harvesting techniques, food safety and quality.
On education, Canada also has close cooperation with and great support for Vietnam. Vietnam is now the 16th source country for international students in Canada. It is estimated that there are currently more than 50 active agreements between Canadian and Vietnamese universities. Vietnamese nationals are eligible to participate in the Canadian Francophonie Scholarship Programmemanaged by CIDA, which assists developing countries of the Francophonie to strengthen institutional capabilities in priority areas.
Nguyen Mai
Vietnamese
