Hon. Deepak Obhrai spoke yesterday at a reception in Ottawa to celebrate the 69th National Day of Vietnam. Please see below Mr. Obhrais speech at the event ---- Your Excellency, Ambassador To Anh Dung, honoured guests, I am very pleased to be here this evening and to congratulate you, on behalf of the Government of Canada, on this 69th Independence Day of Vietnam. Thank you for your kind invitation to join you as you mark this occasion. Our relationship with Vietnam is strong, multi-faceted, and, as with your neighbours in the dynamic Southeast Asia / ASEAN region, continually expanding as Canada and Vietnam begin the 41st year of diplomatic relations. This is a relationship whose importance has been underlined by a series of high-level visits in the past three years: Vietnam was among the first countries that Canada’s Governor General, His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, visited shortly after assuming his new office. Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Honourable John Baird, and Minister for International Trade, the Honourable Ed Fast have all recently travelled to Vietnam, as has Minister for Agri-food and Agriculture Canada, the Honourable Gerry Ritz. I also had the opportunity to visit Hanoi last year. Canada looks forward to welcoming to Ottawa next week Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister / Foreign Affairs Minister, His Excellency Pham Binh Minh. His visit will undoubtedly further the growing ties between our two countries. There is a strong basis for our relations, as our people-to-people ties run deep, albeit many were forged in conflict, when a war ended and Vietnam became the unified country it is today. Canada is home to some 220,000 people of Vietnamese origin, who add their distinctive culture to Canadian society, and enrich our mutual understanding. An important facet of these ties is our youth. Canada is the study destination-of-choice for approximately 4,000 Vietnamese students each year, making Vietnam Canada’s top source country of international students from the ASEAN region. We not only welcome the contribution these students make to Canadian society, culture and economy, but believe it extremely promising that the future generation of Vietnam – its youth – are forming strong ties with Canada. And likewise, we celebrate the opportunity for the hundreds of Canadians of Vietnamese origin who return to Vietnam every year: to visit, to start businesses, to help build a promising future for both countries. Our commercial ties are expanding apace. Bilateral merchandise trade has doubled in the last 4 years, reaching $2.57 billion in 2013. Canada and Vietnam are also part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, an arrangement which would allow us to further expand our commercial ties and reinforce connectivity and integration in the Asia-Pacific region. Relations with ASEAN member countries, including Vietnam, is also a high priority for Canada, which has recently announced the appointment of a new dedicated Canadian Ambassador to ASEAN. We have appreciated the role that Vietnam has played in supporting Canadian objectives in ASEAN, and look forward to continuing to cooperate with Vietnam in this context, as well as in other multilateral forums such as the UN, WTO, La Francophonie, and APEC. Canada and Vietnam are also partners in development cooperation, extending back to 1990. Earlier this year, Canada confirmed Vietnam as a country of focus for the Government of Canadas international development efforts. Canada is proud to be collaborating with Vietnam to reduce poverty and to create economic opportunities for the future of the Vietnamese people. Ensuring economic development is sustained means also ensuring that conditions for success are in place - including the full realization of civil, political and human rights of our citizens, in Vietnam as in Canada. Vietnam, as a member of the UN Human Rights Council, has an opportunity to set a positive example to other countries, both regionally and globally. We look forward to the contribution Vietnam will make to the work of the Council; we look forward to continuing to work together with Vietnam to enable governance that is accountable and responsible. This is a challenge for all states in an increasingly inter-dependent world, and one in which citizens are increasingly networked and engaged through social media. Thank you again to our hosts for the invitation to join you today, and please accept best wishes on the occasion of your 69th Independence Day
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 18:16:12 +0000
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