ISLAMABAD - Ambassador of Vietnam, Nguyen Viet Hung, hosted a grand reception to celebrate the 67th anniversary of independence of Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Malik Amad Khan, minister of state for foreign affairs, was the chief guest. Malik Amad Khan has a special focus on ASEAN region and has developed very intimate relations with the diplomats of ASEAN countries during the last four years. Due to his good efforts, it is expected that Pakistan would become the full dialogue partner of ASEAN in the near future. National Anthems of Pakistan and Vietnam were played on the occasion. All the ambassadors from ASEAN region including Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippine, Thailand, Myanmar, and Brunei along with their spouses were present on the stage with the chief guest. Additional Foreign Secretary Sajjad Kamran was also present on this occasion. Sajjad Kamran has been in Islamabad for the last three years and he is expected to be nominated in near future as an ambassador to some important country.
Ambassador of Denmark Moesby has been in Islamabad for the last one week and it was his first diplomatic reception in Islamabad. He has come directly from Czech Republic. Moesby has also served as ambassador of Denmark in Zimbave. Moesby has a pleasant personality as he is willing to talk and express his views about any issue.
Presently in Denmark there are more than 12 political parties which are present in parliament. Moesby showed his favour for multi-party system instead of two party systems. Nadeem Farooq, a Pakistani Danish is presently the member of Danish parliament while Dr Kamal Qureshi was member in the last parliament.
The Minister of State Malik Amad Khan speaking on the occasion extended heartiest felicitations to the Government and the people of Socialist Republic of Vietnam for celebrating their 67th National Day. He said that this year marks the 40th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Vietnam and during this period, both countries have covered good ground to improve their bilateral relations.  Pakistan was one of the first countries which established the diplomatic relations with Vietnam in November 1972.
The foundation of Pakistan- Vietnam bilateral relations dates back to 1972 when ShahheedZulfiqar Ali Bhutto acknowledging the just struggle of people of Vietnam against outside forces recognized the Government of Vietnam.  Since then, Pakistan-Vietnam relations have made impressive gains for the benefit of people of both the countries.
He further said that Pakistan admires the spectacular achievements of Vietnam in all fields of life, particularity its fast economic development in recent years. Vietnam’s economic success and impressive gains in the social sectors have brought healthy change in the lives of Vietnamese people. These tremendous achievements owe a great dealt to the sagacity of its founding father and his followers coupled with the untiring efforts of the entire Vietnamese nation.
He added that Pakistan-Vietnam bilateral trade is expected to cross the US $400 million this year. Trade volume between the two countries has been increasing steadily over the years. Facilitating the enhanced exchange of trade delegations and direct contacts between the private sectors of Pakistan and Vietnam could greatly boost up the bilateral trade and economic relations between the two countries.
Both Pakistan and Vietnam also offer tremendous investment opportunities in a number of areas. One of the ways to get to know each other’s potential will be to attend trade fairs and investment seminars in both countries.
He said that cooperation between the two countries in the ASEAN forum will be further strengthened and hoped that Vietnam would continue to support Pakistan in getting full dialogue partnership in ASEAN. He wished both countries to prosper and gain further strength in coming years.
The guests were served with special Vietnami cuisine. Vietnami girls were assisting the guests to offer the Vietnami delicious food. A good number of businessmen from Islamabad Chamber of Commerce, Rawalpindi Chamber of commerce and Federation of Pakistan Chamber of commerce were invited to the event.