Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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196. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide an update on the work of the Irish Embassy based in Vietnam. [18840/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Embassy of Ireland in Vietnam is based in Hanoi and is also accredited to Cambodia and Laos. The Embassy’s work is guided by its 2023 – 2027 Mission Strategy which is available online: assets.ireland.ie/documents/Ireland_Mission_e_publication_2025_Vietnam.pdf.

The Embassy’s Strategy has three broad, interconnected outcomes:

• Strengthened bilateral relations, increased trade, and more visibility for Ireland in the region, working in coordination with Team Ireland and Team Europe;
• More inclusive and equitable development in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, with a focus on building institutional capacity and reaching the furthest behind;
• Stronger engagement with Irish and affinity diaspora, and high quality consular and visa services delivered in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

In the area of bilateral relations, the Embassy has facilitated a number of successful high-level visits to Vietnam, including by Minister of State James Browne in March 2024, Minister of State Pippa Hackett in October 2024, and Minister of State Noel Grealish in March 2025. Minister Grealish also visited Cambodia this past St Patrick’s Day. This was the first Ministerial visit from Ireland to Cambodia in almost 20 years.

The Embassy also supported the State Visit of Vietnamese President To Lam to Ireland in October 2024. During this visit I, as Taoiseach, agreed a Joint Statement with President Lam and witnessed the signature of a Strategic Partnership on Higher Education. It was announced during the visit that Vietnam will open an Embassy in Dublin in 2025, which will further bolster bilateral relations.

In the area of trade, the Embassy facilitated the agreement of a Memorandum of Understanding on Economic and Trade Cooperation between the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade during the State Visit in October 2024. The Embassy coordinates closely with State Agencies, in particular with Enterprise Ireland and Bord Bia, and is working on an ongoing basis to secure market access for Irish goods, including agricultural products, and to support trade promotion in the context of the EU Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.

The Embassy is also responsible for delivering Irish Aid development cooperation programmes in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

• On agriculture, 2023 saw the establishment of the Ireland-Vietnam Agrifood Partnership (IVAP), implemented by Sustainable Food Systems Ireland.
• The Embassy manages education cooperation programmes such as the Ireland Fellows Programme (IFP) scholarship scheme in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, as well as the Vietnam-Ireland Bilateral Exchange (VIBE) programme between Vietnamese and Irish higher education institutions.
• On governance and human rights, the Embassy provides support to the UN programmes which aim to improve governance and public services access in both Vietnam and Laos. The Embassy also continues Ireland's long-standing support to humanitarian mine action in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in line with Ireland's disarmament objectives.
• The Embassy's Alive and Thrive nutrition programme works to address stunting in under-5s in all three countries.
• Given the region’s vulnerability to climate change and extreme weather events, the Embassy has increased its focus in this area across all elements of its development cooperation programme, including through projects to support ethnic minorities and rural communities.
• The Embassy continues to respond to humanitarian crises, including in the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi in September 2024.

All of the Embassy’s work is carried out in the context of the Government’s Asia Pacific Strategy and the Global Ireland Strategy, seeking to strengthen and develop Ireland’s political, economic and people-to-people connections with this important region.