Online Desk: Saturday marked the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. To commemorate the milestone, Vietnamese Ambassador to Bangladesh Pham Viet Chien and the embassy’s staff visited and laid a floral wreath at the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in Dhanmondi 32 to pay tribute to Bangladesh’s Father of the Nation, the “architect of setting up the diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and Vietnam.” Representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh were also present, UNB reports.

“Over the last 50 years, the excellent traditional friendship between Vietnam and Bangladesh has been consolidated and strengthened based on historical similarities and shared values of independence, peace, cooperation and development. Bilateral multi-faceted cooperation in various fields has been bolstered to be more intensive, substantive and effective,” said the Vietnam Embassy in Dhaka. Trade and economic cooperation between the two economies have been constantly growing, stronger than ever before.

“Bangladesh has been the second largest trading partner of Vietnam in South Asia. Remarkably, 2021 was the first time that the two-way trade turnover surpassed $1 billion, and approached $1.5 billion in 2022, recording an impressive 75-fold growth in the last 20 years and a four-fold increase in the last 10 years,” said the Embassy of Vietnam. “Although the trade balance is still in favour of Vietnam, it is such a positive sign that Bangladesh’s exports to Vietnam have exceeded $100 million for the first time in 2022.”

“After five decades of walking alongside each other on the path of national construction, both Vietnam and Bangladesh have transformed into emerging middle-income nations with high sustained growth and outstanding development successes,” the Vietnamese mission said. “The phenomenal achievements in the last 50 years of Vietnam-Bangladesh diplomatic relations have created a firm basis to elevate the two nations’ friendship to a new height, for the benefit of the two peoples, for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and over the world,” it added.