The Vietnam-Spain Friendship Association and the Spanish Embassy inVietnam held a friendly exchange in Hanoi on May 22 to celebrate 38years of the two countries’ diplomatic relations.

Chairman of the Vietnam-Spain Friendship Association - Deputy GeneralDirector of the Vietnam News Agency Nguyen Hoai Duong expressed hispleasure at the growing relations between the two countries since theyestablished bilateral diplomatic ties in 1977 and a strategicpartnership in 2009.

He emphasised that this hasbenefited the two nations and peoples not only in economics and tradebut also culture, tourism and education.

Theassociation has made great contributions to bilateral relations byorganising a number of activities under various forms to promote thefriendship and cooperation with Spanish partners, he said.

The chairman added that in 2015, the association will further expandfriendship and cooperation exchanges, especially with the SpanishEmbassy in Vietnam .

He said he hopes the SpanishAmbassador to Vietnam will actively work with the association toenhance friendly gatherings and cooperation in the fields of mutualinterests.

Ambassador Alfonso Tena Garcia highlyvalued the cooperative programmes between his country and Vietnam,noting that the bilateral cooperation has been developing in variousfields such as politics, economics, culture and education.

He noted some important cooperative programmes that are underway suchas the construction of the Noi Bai – Lao Cai highway; the bus systems inHai Phong and Hanoi; and underground routes in Ho Chi Minh City andHanoi.

The ambassador recalled that last year,the two countries signed a number of cooperation agreements in aviationtransport, criminal extradition and transfer of sentenced prisoners.

He revealed that the energy Repsol group is making plans to invest in Vietnam.

Two-way trade between Vietnam and Spain reached 2.5 billion USD in 2014, a year-on-year increase of 20 percent.-VNA