Viet Nam

Last updated in October 2011

Political relations

There is a special quality to relations between Germany and Vietnam. 83,000 Vietnamese are registered in Germany and there are an estimated 100,000 German-speakers in Vietnam.

In 2011, bilateral relations were given fresh momentum by the Federal Chancellor’s and Federal Foreign Minister’s visits to Vietnam and the visit to Germany by Vietnam’s then Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem. In October 2011, the two countries established a ‘strategic partnership’.

German support is not confined to Vietnam’s economic transformation process. In February 2008, the German Foreign Minister and his Vietnamese counterpart signed a Joint Declaration on Cooperation in Legal and Judicial Matters in Hanoi. In October 2011, the two countries’ Ministries of Justice signed a declaration of intent to continue the German-Vietnamese dialogue on the rule of law. Another project of importance for future cooperation is the planned setting up a German House in Ho Chi Minh City. To mark the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and Vietnam, 2010 was celebrated as a German-Vietnamese Year featuring numerous events. The two countries’ Presidents assumed patronage of the event.

Development cooperation

Vietnam is an important German development cooperation partner. Since 1990, the German government has provided Vietnam with nearly EUR 1.5 billion in funding for this sector. On top of this are Germany’s contributions to international organizations (World Bank, Asian Development Bank, United Nations) and to the European Union’s development cooperation. The biggest donor countries among the EU member states are currently France and Germany.

During the intergovernmental negotiations in late 2010, Germany pledged a total of some EUR 300 million in development cooperation with Vietnam for 2011 and 2012: EUR 26 million in Technical Cooperation (TC), EUR 258 million in Financial Cooperation (FC) and nearly EUR 16 million from the Federal Environment Ministry’s International Climate Initiative (ICI). The next intergovernmental negotiations on bilateral development cooperation are to be held in Hanoi in late 2011.

German-Vietnamese development cooperation focuses on the following three priority areas:

• sustainable economic development and technical and vocational training
• environmental policy, conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources as well as urban development (sewage treatment and solid waste disposal)
• improving decentralized health care

Details of current German development cooperation events, projects and contacts in Vietnam are available on the website external link, opens in new windowwww.gdc-vietnam.org.

Economic relations

In 2010, Germany was able to strengthen its position as Vietnam’s principal trading partner in the EU. In the past year, bilateral trade reached USD 5.85 billion, a substantial increase over the previous year (USD 4.6 billion). In bilateral trade, Vietnam again recorded a marked surplus: in 2010 it exported to Germany goods worth a total of USD 3.9 billion, while its imports of German goods amounted to only USD 1.95 billion.

Vietnam’s principal exports to Germany are footwear, textiles, agricultural products (e.g. coffee and pepper), seafood and more recently electronic goods and furniture. Vietnam’s principal imports from Germany are machinery, motor vehicles, equipment and chemical products. Vietnam aims to become an industrialized country by 2020. This means the country will need more sophisticated production facilities, which is likely to translate into a further increasing demand for machinery made in Germany.

German Industry and Commerce Vietnam, which has offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, is part of the German Chamber Network. The Chamber is domiciled in Ho Chi Minh City in premises shared with the German Business Association, in which more than 150 German companies are organized. German companies have invested nearly USD 400 million in Vietnam (though major investments by German companies made through foreign subsidiaries are difficult to capture statistically). A correspondent of Germany Trade and Invest (GTAI, formerly the Federal Office for Foreign Trade, bfai) has been working in Hanoi since 2008, which means that German foreign trade promotion is well positioned in Vietnam.

Cultural relations

Following the conclusion of cultural accord in 1990, bilateral cultural relations have developed well. The approximately 100,000 Vietnamese who studied, trained or worked in the former GDR act as a bridge between the two countries – a unique relationship in Asia which sustains interest in Germany.

Academic exchange benefits from the large number of academics trained in Germany. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the German Research Foundation (DFG) support a growing number of academic contacts and cooperation agreements. Vietnam is a priority country in efforts to make Germany internationally more attractive as a place to study. Some 4,100 Vietnamese students are currently enrolled at German universities. The Vietnamese-German Centre at Hanoi University of Science and Technology began work in December 1999. Since 2003, it has also been the domicile of the DAAD’s regional office in Hanoi.

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) maintains close contacts with Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology. In the area of scientific and technological cooperation, there is extensive exchange at both scientific and political level. The BMBF’s activities focus on education, biotechnology, research on water and the environment and research management.

In January 1997, several years of negotiations on the reciprocal establishment of cultural institutes were concluded with the signing of an agreement. In December 1997, the Goethe Institute in Hanoi was opened and has since become a heavily frequented centre for German culture and language as well as a popular meeting-place for those working in the cultural sector or with an interest in culture. Since the end of 2003, it has also run a German centre in Ho Chi Minh City jointly with the DAAD that provides language programmes and academic counselling. In 2008, it was upgraded to a Goethe Institute branch with its own cultural programme work. For many prospective students, the language courses at the Goethe Institute are a springboard for studying in Germany.

The Friedrich Ebert Foundation opened an office in Hanoi in November 1990, the first political foundation to do so. The Konrad Adenauer Foundation followed suit in 1993. The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation has also had its own office in Hanoi since February 2009 and the Hanns Seidel Foundation since 2011. The Friedrich Naumann Foundation also plans to open an office there in 2012.

In September 2008, the Vietnamese-German University was opened in Ho Chi Minh City, its founding documents having been signed in Hanoi in February 2008 in a ceremony attended by the German Foreign Minister. The project, which was initiated by the German federal state of Hesse, is intended to become a model for bilateral academic cooperation.

As part of the “Schools: Partners for the Future” initiative launched by the Federal Foreign Office in late 2007, German instruction has been intensified at schools in Vietnam and it has proved possible to recruit new partner schools for Germany there. Both the Goethe Institute and the Central Agency for Schools Abroad, which has had a German language teaching expert working in Vietnam since February 2008, are actively involved in this project in cooperation with the German Embassy.

Development cooperation

Viet Nam is a partner country of German development cooperation. For more information please visit the website of the external link, opens in new windowFederal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development