Israel–Vietnam relations
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Israel–Vietnam relations (
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
: יחסי ישראל-וייטנאם; ) refers to the
bilateral relations Bilateralism is the conduct of political, economic, or cultural relations between two sovereign states. It is in contrast to unilateralism or multilateralism, which is activity by a single state or jointly by multiple states, respectively. When ...
between the
State of Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
and the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
. Vietnam and Israel established diplomatic relations on July 12, 1993, followed by Israel opening its resident embassy in
Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...
in December 1993. The current Vietnamese Ambassador to Israel is Lý Đức Trung, who has been assigned since April 2022. Ambassador Lý Đức Trung operates out of the Vietnamese embassy in
Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...
. The current Israeli Ambassador to Vietnam is Yaron Mayer, who has been assigned since August 2022. Ambassador Mayer operates out of the Israeli embassy in
Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...
. Relations between the two nations are generally friendly and stable. Vietnam has expressed its interest in boosting defense ties with Israel. There are also many Vietnamese working in Israel, and Israel has also delivered humanitarian aid to Vietnam on several occasions. According to reports, some 2,000 Vietnamese students study in Israel. Israel and Vietnam also cooperate in such fields as agriculture, information technology, and biotech, and cultural exchanges between the two countries are quite extensive. Vietnam is Israel's largest trading partner in
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
.


History

Between 1977 and 1979, the
State of Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
allowed approximately 360 Vietnamese refugees to enter the country. The most well-known rescue operation took place on June 10, 1977 in which an Israeli freighter ship called the ''Yuvali,'' en route to Taiwan, sighted the passengers. Vietnam and Israel established diplomatic relations on July 12, 1993. Israel opened its resident Embassy in
Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...
in December 1993, with David Matnai appointed as the first Ambassador to Vietnam. The first resident Vietnamese ambassador to Israel was
Đinh Xuân Lưu Dinh Xuan Luu is a Vietnamese ambassador who served as the country's ambassador to Poland in the early 2000s. From 2009 he has been Vietnam's ambassador to Israel. He is married to Truong Phuong Hong. Ambassador to Israel Luu served as the Amba ...
, who presented his credentials to Israeli President
Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...
on July 8, 2009. The ambassador operates out of an embassy at 4 Weizman Street in Tel Aviv, Israel, a first since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1993. The previous ambassador was a non-resident ambassador, operating from
Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
. At their meeting,
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...
told the new ambassador: "I congratulate the Vietnamese government on their decision to establish an embassy in Israel. The establishment of an embassy opens a new era in the relationship of the two countries." Since establishing diplomatic relations, the two countries have strengthened ties through reciprocal visits and collaborations in business, education, culture, technology, and
agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...
. The visits arranged by the Israeli government included those of delegations comprising entrepreneurs and businessmen, academic groups, journalists, artists and musicians, legal workers, and so on. In January 2010, Luu said that it was key for Israel to increase its cooperation with Vietnam via its strong wherewithal in high-potential high-tech areas such as
information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...
, aerospace, and biological technologies applied to agriculture to boost farming productivity, which were important areas in Vietnam's modernization. In September 2011, he and Vietnamese Ministry of Defence Deputy Minister Lieutenant General Truong Quang Khanh led a working delegation from the defense ministry in a visit to Israel. In July 2012, he spoke of strong ties between Vietnam and Israel, and the possibilities for initiating future partnerships. In November 2011, at the invitation of Vietnam's President Trương Tấn Sang, Israeli President Shimon Peres had an official visit to Vietnam from the 21st to the 27th, accompanied by Ministers and business delegation. This first high-ranking visit aimed at strengthening and expanding political and economic strategic ties between Israel and Vietnam. In September 2012, Luu said that friendship and cooperation between Israel and Vietnam had its roots in a meeting in 1946 between
Democratic Republic of Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it opposed the French-suppor ...
Prime Minister and President
Ho Chi Minh (born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), colloquially known as Uncle Ho () among other aliases and sobriquets, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and politician who served as the founder and first President of Vietnam, president of the ...
and
David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary List of national founders, national founder and first Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister of the State of Israel. As head of the Jewish Agency ...
. He also said that trade between the two countries had risen to $660 million in the first eight months of 2012. He spoke of cooperation between the two countries in agriculture, water technologies, IT, telecommunication, education, and
homeland security Homeland security is an American national security term for "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" to ...
. Future president of Vietnam, Trần Đại Quang, visited Israel in 2014 and met with president Reuven Rivlin. Israeli minister Tzipi Hotovely visited Vietnam in August 2015. Vietnamese deputy PM visited Israel on December of that year and met with prime minister
Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...
and other Israeli officials. In 2016, Vietnamese deputy prime minister Vương Đình Huệ said Vietnam should learn from Israel how to develop a start-up ecosystem. In October 2016, Vietnamese president Trần Đại Quang met with Israeli ambassador to Vietnam, Meirav Eilon Shahar, and praised the warm ties between the two countries. He further stated Israel and Vietnam need to boost their economic and business ties and to even open a direct route between them in order to facilitate their cooperation and tourism. Public security minister of Vietnam, General To Lam visited Israel in November 2016 and met with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Receiving the credentials of the Vietnamese ambassador to Israel, Ly Duc Trung, in August 2022, Israeli President Isaac Herzog expressed his desire to expand Israeli-Vietnamese collaboration in the fields of trade, agriculture, innovation and more. On July 23, 2023, Israel and Vietnam celebrated 30 years of bilateral diplomatic relations, and two days later, the two countries signed a free trade agreement. In August 2023, it was announced that Vietnam would add Israel to its electronic visa waiver program, and that direct flights between the two countries were supposed to begin for the first time in October 2023. However, the plan was halt indefinitely due to the
Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...
.


Economic relations

Israeli businessmen have shown considerable interest in Vietnam and organized many business trips to the country to explore investment opportunities in agriculture,
aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...
,
tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...
, oil and gas exploitation and production,
telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...
, and
pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...
. In August 2004, Israel and Vietnam signed an Agreement of Economic and Trade Cooperation, an important legal basis for the further development of trade. The two-way trade turnover has reached 70 million
US dollars The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...
in 2005. Two Israeli corporations, Agronet and Astraco, have opened offices in Hanoi. Technology and know-how developed at
Kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...
Afikim will be used in a half-a-billion-dollar milk production project in Vietnam. The project involves establishing a dairy of 30,000 cows to supply 500,000 liters of milk a day, about 40% of Vietnam's present milk consumption. Afikim will be responsible for all stages of the enterprise, including breeding and preparing land for crops that will be used as feed. The governments of Vietnam and Israel signed an agreement on double tax avoidance in Hanoi on August 4, 2009, creating a transparent and healthy legal environment for their businesses to increase transactions. Signatories to the document were Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Xuan Ha and Israeli Ambassador to Vietnam Effie Ben Matityau. They both stressed the importance of the agreement in promoting economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. Israel and Vietnam are also working on completing a free-trade agreement, that would further enhance the business relationship between the two countries. The Israeli government has helped train and educate Vietnamese in the science of agriculture, aquaculture, livestock, and dairy milk production. Vietnam, which is now considered one of the leading economies in the developing world, relies part of its success on Israeli technology and agricultural development. On July 25, 2023, Israel and Vietnam signed a free trade agreement. The deal is expected to raise trade between the two nations by 50%, and Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade predicted the deal would eventually bring bilateral trade to $3 billion. Furthermore, the Ministry announced the agreement would remove duties on at least 86% of Vietnamese products and 93% of Israeli products.


Assistance to Vietnam

Israel has also dispatched many specialists to Vietnam to give in-service training to their Vietnamese colleagues, especially in agriculture. Government officials and professionals from various ministries in Vietnam have visited Israel to study tours as well as for trainings. Various on-the-spot courses have been conducted in various fields, such as agriculture, aquaculture, livestock, dairy milk production and education, under the auspices of MASHAV, the Israeli Center for International Cooperation.


Technology

A forum to further scientific and technological cooperation between Vietnam and Israel took place in Hanoi on January 18, 2010, drawing the participation of close to 160 businesses from both countries. Speaking at this first forum of its kind in Vietnam, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Pham Gia Tuc, stated that the Vietnamese government sees Israel as an important partner in its policy to boost multi-faceted cooperation with countries in the Middle East. In 2016, a group of Vietnamese students and teachers traveled to Israel to learn about robotics and start-ups.


Cultural ties

In 2014, Vietnam hosted an Israeli film festival, in celebration of 20 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Numerous Israeli books have been translated to Vietnamese.


See also

* Palestine–Vietnam relations * History of the Jews in Vietnam * International recognition of Israel * United States–Vietnam relations


References


External links


Israeli embassy in Hanoi

Vietnamese embassy in Tel Aviv
{{DEFAULTSORT:Israel-Vietnam relations
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
Bilateral relations of Vietnam