Hanoi (VNA) – Prime MinisterNguyen Xuan Phuc and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation left Hanoi in theevening of June 7 for Quebec to attend the expanded Group of Seven (G7) Summit  and visit Canada from June 8-10 at theinvitation of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Accompanying the PM are Minister, Chairmanof the Government Office Mai Tien Dung, Minister of Science and Technology ChuNgoc Anh, Minister of Home Affairs Le Vinh Tan, Minister, Chairman of the GovernmentCommittee for Ethnic Affairs Do Van Chien, and Auditor General Ho Duc Phoc,among others.

Theexpanded G7 Summit will be held in Charlevoix, Quebec, on June 8 and 9 with theparticipation of leaders of the world’s seven advanced economies, namelyCanada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, and several guests,including Vietnam.

Theagenda of this year’s summit focuses on gender equality and women empowerment,investment in inclusive growth, preparations to adapt to job placements infuture, cooperation to respond to climate change and protect oceans, and thebuilding of a more peaceful and safer world.

TheG7 is an informal grouping of seven of the world’s advanced economies consistingof Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US. It was establishedin 1975 under the US’ initiative with six members. Canada joined the groupingin 1976.

TheG7 Summit offers an opportunity for G7 leaders, ministers and policy makers to cometogether each year to build consensus and set trends around some of today’smost challenging global issues.

Vietnamand Canada established diplomatic ties in 1973 and began the exchange ofhigh-ranking delegations since 1994. During a visit by Vietnam’s Deputy PrimeMinister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh in September 2014, the foreignministers of Vietnam and Canada signed a Letter of Intent on consolidating andboosting bilateral relations. In September 2016, when Canadian Foreign MinisterStephane Dion visited Vietnam, the two sides agreed to promote cooperation inseven fields mentioned in the Letter of Intent, with a focus ontrade-investment and education-training.

Onthe occasion of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s official visit toVietnam in November 2017, the two countries issued a joint statement on theestablishment of their comprehensive partnership, which set forth basicprinciples for bilateral relations along with orientations and measures tofoster bilateral partnership in the seven fields of politics-diplomacy,trade-investment, development cooperation, defence-security, culture-education,science-technology, and people-to-people exchange.

Vietnamis currently Canada’s biggest trade partner in the Association of SoutheastAsian Nations with bilateral trade reaching nearly 5 billion USD in 2017.Canada ranks 14th among 112 nations and territories investing in Vietnam with149 projects worth a total of 4.1 billion USD.

Recently,Canada announced official development assistance (ODA) for a project to developcooperatives in Vietnam, another to help the country respond to climate changeand two others on food safety.

Bilateralcooperation in education and training is enjoying strong growth, with thenumber of Vietnamese students in Canada rising twofold in the past 10 years to12,000, the largest among ASEAN countries.-VNA