There are also many things that can be accomplished in the economic field. However, as Turkey, we have not yet fully discovered that part of the world. I held nearly 70 meetings in the framework of preparatory contacts for my new task. I mainly visited private sector institutions as well as state institutions related to the economy. I was very pleased to observe that there is a nascent interest towards Vietnam in the private sector. However, government support and encouragement are needed for this interest to translate into concrete results.

        Although the balance of bilateral trade is working against us, the volume of trade is gradually increasing. As of late 2010, it was around 860 million dollars. Our short-term target is to ameliorate this imbalance as much as possible and to reach the goal of 2 billion of dollars in terms of trade. However, I think it is possible that this number may reach higher levels because, in the aftermath of economic reforms, Vietnam has become a leading production center for major Western companies. Especially after membership to the World Trade Organization in 2007, it began to attract foreign capital in considerable amounts. Capital inflow is currently around 10 billion dollars per year. Nevertheless, this figure does not do justice to a country like Vietnam with a population of nearly 90 million people and will likely grow further in time. Vietnam has many serious advantages in terms of high literacy and education levels, young population and low production costs. Furthermore, it constitutes one of the biggest markets within the ASEAN area, which is home to 600 million people, and the purchasing power of its people is also steadily increasing. Therefore, the investors should be fully aware of this window of opportunity. I believe that the next 4-5 years are crucially important for the Turkish private sector to gain proper recognition in Vietnam and to leave an imprint in the export and investment fields. On the other hand, Vietnam, which is rapidly developing and getting richer, has also been increasing its own investments abroad. However, looking at the current picture, we see only one Vietnamese company that has invested in Turkey. As far as I know, there is also one single Turkish company currently operating in Vietnam.

        We have around 15 university students there. Most of them have gone to Vietnam to learn the Vietnamese language. The total number I mentioned also includes the staff and families of private Turkish schools which have been operating there for a while, as well as entrepreneurs and others who work as representatives for various Western companies and their families. There are a few academics who work in Vietnamese universities. I believe that the number of Turks settling in Vietnam will increase over time. Thanks to the media, which has lately been giving wider coverage to Vietnam, this country has begun to attract greater attention from every segment of the Turkish society. Since last December, Turkish Airlines has been offering four flights (on four days) a week from Istanbul to Ho Chi Minh City, with a stopover in Bangkok. I have recently been informed that the frequency of the flights will be increased to seven days a week as of July 2011. In the future, direct flights to Hanoi may also be possible, because we regard Vietnam as a very promising country. I still do not have any information about the annual number of Turkish tourists who visit Vietnam. However, I understand that the interest in Vietnam peaks around such times as bairams and extended holidays.

Does Turkey attract a great number of Vietnamese people? 

          According to the statistics, around 4000-5000 Vietnamese tourists come to our country each year. The Vietnamese Ambassador in Ankara has told me that the number of Vietnamese who choose foreign destinations for tourism purposes is steadily rising. He also suggested that we pursue active promotion campaigns in Vietnam in order to attract a larger proportion of these Vietnamese tourists to our country. 

It is argued that Turkish tourists to Vietnam are of high class. Is there a truth to this speculation? 

         The Interbank Credit Card Center has issued the record of expenditures by Turks who went abroad for the last Bairam of Sacrifice. There is an interesting phenomenon here. The total amount of expenditures made in various countries is around 238 million Turkish Liras and the highest rate of spending was observed in Vietnam with around 6.7%, corresponding to 16 million Turkish Liras. There may be two explanations for that: either a large number of Turks in Vietnam spent little amounts, or a small number of Turks spent heavily. People from related sectors told me that the second probability is more realistic. If this is the case, we can say that wealthy Turkish citizens, in addition to well-known destinations like the USA or Europe, have begun to visit some other countries like Vietnam, which are less well-known in our country but have rich natural beauties. 

     Another less visible point for the public eye is that Turkish companies hire Vietnamese workers to be employed in various construction projects in the Middle East. As you remember, we also evacuated the Vietnamese employees during the uprising in Libya. In certain fields like these, we have deep-running relations with Vietnam, which are off the radar screen and not widely known by the public. 

       There are also many things to do in the cultural and academic fields for the purpose of improving bilateral ties. Last summer, ORSAM hosted a group from the Vietnamese African and Middle Eastern Studies Institute, and this was extremely important for being the first direct contact between think tanks. During the meeting, both sides expressed a desire to deepen cultural cooperation on the basis of previously signed general agreements. However, in the academic realm, relations are still in their infancy, and therefore due steps should be taken as soon as possible.

        No agreement of any kind exists among Turkish and Vietnamese universities. Those agreements that I have just mentioned are the 1997 Implementation Protocol of the Commercial, Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement, which laid the foundation of the Joint Economic Commission, and the 1999 Agreement for Cultural, Scientific and Educational Cooperation. Such framework aggreements are given flesh and bones in time, on the basis of mutual will. In my opinion, it is time that political and economic relations had a spillover effect in cooperation between the respective universities and other educational and research institutions in both countries. I have already discussed this issue with the President of our Higher Education Council (YÖK) as well as a number of universities and research institutions interested in Southeast Asian studies. I was extremely pleased to see a serious interest on their part and receive their support. I think we may begin to see some concrete steps in this field before long.

        There may be a few students on state scholarship, but I think most of them went there by their own means or thanks to some private scholarships.

     Yes. This situation facilitates learning that country’s language. According to a widely-held theory, the Vietnamese, which is a monosyllabic language, belongs to the “Mon-Khmer” branch of  the “Austro-Asiatic” family of languages. However, there are different opinions among the linguists concerning the roots of the Vietnamese language. Like any other language, it is natural that the Vietnamese has been affected by other languages and cultures; but in the final analysis, it has its own unique structure. Although it sounds quite musical to the ear, it is not so easy to learn. In this regard, we are fortunate to have students there being educated in the Vietnamese language.

         There is undoubtedly some French influence. The country was colonized by France for nearly a century. Colonization did not happen in a sudden and wholesome fashion but proceeded incrementally. The southernmost region was named “Cochinchina;” the middle part was called “Annam;” while the north was known as “Tonkin.” The French impact is more widely observed in the South. Formerly “Saigon,” Ho Chi Minh City, named after the founder of modern Vietnam, is the very place that the French influence is felt the most. To a lesser extent, that influence is also observed in Hanoi, where the French built a smaller replica of the Paris Opera House.

         The older generation still uses it, but the younger generation has mostly embraced English as a consequence of globalization. In line with this trend, the impact of American culture is also deepening. However, Vietnam is trying to retain its own unique culture simultaneously. Accordingly, they attach great importance to education. The literacy rate of the people is about 95 percent.

         Vietnam is a rapidly developing country, and is poised to assume more active roles in the world in almost every field. It has survived the long and destructive wars that it went through. It is heading for the future with this self-confidence. With its peace-oriented foreign policy, the country has been making important contributions to the maintenance of stability within the ASEAN area. I believe that with its central position in the region, and in the framework of its good neighborly relations, it can also contribute to the resolution of some political issues currently occupying the global agenda.  

       Vietnam also displays a steady progress in terms of economic growth. It has succeeded by its own means at seriously reducing the level of poverty. The Vietnamese people are well educated, hard working and extremely friendly. Vietnam is increasingly included in such groupings as “MAVINS” and “CIVETS” that are used to identify rising countries, in a similar way to the “BRICS.” Achieving full industrialization by 2020 has become one of the official targets of Vietnam. Vietnam is also a living proof of the direct link between reforms and development. In this respect, it is a good example and a source of inspiration for developing countries. 

       In this general framework, there are some remarkable parallelisms between Turkey and Vietnam concerning their targets and potentials for the future. The fact that no political issues exist between these two countries constitutes a major advantage for further improvement in bilateral relations. Although relations in the fields of economy and trade also display a favorable trend, their current level is yet well below the true potential. As two paradises for tourism in their own right, Turkey and Vietnam have just started to discover each other in this realm. Likewise, there are also possibilities of cooperation in the cultural, academic, sportive and social fields. In order to translate this collaborative potential into practice, contacts at every level must be increased and the two peoples should get to know each other much more closely. One of my main priorities as the Turkish Ambassador to Vietnam will be to try to contribute to this process at the maximum level.