Medical workers administer COVID-19 vaccine to people at an inoculation site (Photo: VNA)“Vietnam was very professional in managing to stop thepandemic from going into the country,” he said. Basically in the first yearwhen almost all the world, including Israel, was struggling, the situation wasquite normal in Vietnam and a lot of lives have been saved, he said.
“That was already a huge success for the Vietnamese Government."
He said the Vietnamese Government had to struggle very hardto find solutions for the health element the first and foremost, Eshcar noted,particularly mentioning the country’s largest-ever COVID-19 vaccine rollout asthe key.
Vietnam is among the most vaccinated countries in the world,he continued. “You can see huge difference at the beginning of the crisis,especially in the South about half a year ago when people were not yetvaccinated, and now.”
Though the number of people being infected remains high, themortality rate went down significantly, he stated. “I think the Vietnamese Governmentis doing very well on the health level."
He also complimented Vietnam’s economic resilience despitethe collapse of many businesses and supply chain disruptions globally, sayingit was a surprise for him to witness the Vietnam - Israel trade expanded 36percent in 2020 and some 15 - 20 percent in 2021.
Ambassador of Israel to Vietnam Nadav Eshcar (Photo: VNA)He forecast that once the trade deal takes effect, theVietnam - Israel trade will be lifted from current 2 billion USD to 3 - 4 billionUSD annually. This year, the two nations plan to finalise talks over the FTAwhich started in December 2015.
He went on to say that basically, the economies of Israeland Vietnam are not competing with but complementing each other. While Vietnamis a hub of agro production, Israel is a large manufacturer of technology invarious fields, ranging from cybersecurity, education, telecommunications andothers.
Speaking of the two countries’ talks on a labour agreementto send Vietnamese to work in agriculture in Israel which were launched lastyear, the diplomat said “the agreement has to be done very carefully to makesure the rights of the workers are fully kept in the best manner.”
He further noted that around 700 Vietnamese students came tostudy in Israel every year under an apprenticeship programme in modern farming,adding that the project has run for 12 - 13 years now and he has seen manysuccess stories of these students who returned Vietnam with knowledge,experience, and spirit they learned in Israel.
Vietnam and Israel established diplomatic relations in 1993.The bilateral ties have been thriving in multiple fields, particularlyscience-technology and trade. Vietnam is Israel’s largest trade partner inSoutheast Asia with the two-way trade reaching about 1.8 billion USD in 2020./.
VNA
