On November 10th, 2025, in Hanoi, Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Xuan Sang had a meeting and worked with the Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands Aukje de Vries. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Vietnam Kees van Baar; leaders of units under the Ministry of Construction and leaders of Dutch enterprises attended the meeting.
At the meeting, Minister Aukje de Vries expressed her pleasure to visit Vietnam - a country with dynamic economic growth and great potential for cooperation in many fields; and emphasized that Vietnam and the Netherlands have built a solid strategic partnership, especially in the fields of logistics, sustainable agriculture and climate change response.
Ms Vries said that 2025 marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Strategic Partnership on Climate Change Adaptation and Water Management, and the 11th anniversary of the Strategic Partnership on Agriculture and Food Security between the two countries. Currently, the Netherlands is the largest European direct investor in Vietnam and the leading export destination of Vietnam in the region.
Vries expressed her confidence in the broad prospects for cooperation between businesses of the two countries in the fields of maritime affairs, seaports, aviation, and logistics, especially as both sides are striving toward the development of green and sustainable infrastructure.
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Working scene.
Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister Nguyen Xuan Sang welcomed Minister Aukje de Vries and the Dutch Trade Delegation to visit and work with the Ministry of Construction, and emphasized the friendly and effective cooperation between the two sides in many fields, especially aviation, maritime, and logistics.
Sharing the orientation for developing Vietnam's transport infrastructure in the coming period, Sang said that Vietnam has identified infrastructure development, along with institutional reform and human resource development, as three strategic breakthroughs, in which transport infrastructure plays a pivotal role.
Appreciating the cooperation between the two countries in the field of transport, Deputy Minister Nguyen Xuan Sang stated that Vietnam and the Netherlands have achieved many positive results, especially in the fields of maritime and aviation.
In civil aviation, the two sides signed an aviation agreement in 1993 and an amended protocol in 2011; and participated in the Comprehensive Agreement on Air Transport between ASEAN and the European Union. The two-way passenger capacity between Vietnam and the Netherlands has grown steadily in recent years, reflecting the potential for opening direct flights between the two countries.
On that basis, Sang proposed that the Netherlands support the promotion of cooperation between airlines, research on the exploitation of direct flights between Vietnam and the Netherlands, and coordinate in modernizing flight management and digital transformation in the aviation sector; promote research and implementation of the next phase of the PIB-VINWAP Water Transport Cooperation and Seaport Development Program, and expand bilateral cooperation in areas such as smart port development, green logistics, supply chain management, and training of high-quality maritime human resources.
Sang also asked the Netherlands to support Vietnam in researching, planning and applying advanced technology in developing logistics infrastructure and multimodal transport; and promoting clean energy conversion in the maritime industry through the use of green fuels.
At the workshop, Deputy Minister Nguyen Xuan Sang and Minister Aukje de Vries witnessed the two sides exchanging the Memorandum of Understanding on the Extension of Cooperation in Training and Development of Maritime Human Resources between the Vietnam Maritime and Waterway Administration and STC International; the Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Cooperation in the field of Logistics between Moovle and Van der Leun Vietnam; the Memorandum of Understanding on Future Strategic Cooperation on developing green technology for the maritime industry between Damen Shipyards and Xuan Thien Group.
At the end of the working session, Deputy Minister Nguyen Xuan Sang and Minister Aukje de Vries agreed that the two sides will continue to discuss and promote specific cooperation initiatives, contributing to strengthening the Vietnam - Netherlands strategic partnership, towards developing green, smart and sustainable transport infrastructure, serving the goal of economic growth associated with environmental protection and long-term development of the two countries.