Vietnam – Iran relations

Vietnam and Iran established diplomatic relations on 4th August 1973. In 1979, Vietnam was among the first countries to early recognize the success of the Islamic Revolution of Iran.

In 1991, Iran opened its embassy in Hanoi. In 1997, Vietnam opened its Embassy in Tehran.

The two countries have exchanged numerous high-ranking delegations:

From Vietnam’s side: Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Manh Cam paid a visit to Iran (May 1993); President Le Duc Anh (May 1994), Chairman of the National Assembly Nong Duc Manh (July 1999), Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (June 2000), President Tran Duc Luong (October 2002), Deputy Minister of Defense Nguyen Huy Hieu (March 2004), and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vu Dung (December 2006).

From Iran’s side: Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs (March 1995), President A.H. Rafsanjani (October 1995), First Vice President Hassan (June 1997), National Assembly Chairman Akbar Nateq (December 1998), the Minister of Trade attended the 4th meeting of the Inter-governmental Committee (January 2005), Deputy Minister of Defense (June 2005), and Vice President Ali Ahbadi (May 2007).
The two sides have signed many agreements including: an Agreement on economic, cultural, scientific and technical cooperation (1993); an agreements on trade and consular affairs cooperation and establishment of a joint committee (1994), an Agreement on Cultural Cooperation (1995), an Agreement on Aviation transportation (2001), and an Agreement on Marine Transportation and Trade (2002). The two sides also signed an Agreement on bilateral consultation between the two foreign ministries (June 2000)

PetroVietnam visited Iran to explore the possibility of cooperation to exploit oil and gas.  The bilateral trade volumes between Vietnam and I-ran reached about USD 30 million  in 2003, USD 39 million in 2004, USD 100 million in 2005 and USD 77 million in 2006 (the last decrease was due to a decline in rice export). The 4th meeting of the Joint committee was held in Hanoi in January 2005 and the 5th meeting is expected to be held in Tehran in 2007.

7/2007