Vietnam-Israel Relations
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Agricultural cooperation has been one of the main pillars of relations between Vietnam and Israel since establishing diplomatic ties in 1993. Israel has sent experts to Vietnam and organized 18 courses on agriculture, attracting 850 trainees. These courses mainly focused on dairy cattle farming, aquaculture, orchards, and agricultural marketing. More than 180 Vietnamese people have been trained in Israel since 1995. Under a new cooperation framework between Israel’s Arava International Centre for Agriculture Training (AICAT) and the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s National Agriculture Promotion Centre, about 60 Vietnamese agricultural students participated in 11-month training programs in Israel in 2004-2005. Vietnam and Israel have participated in agricultural exhibitions and fairs organized in each country. Israeli pavilions have been present in a series of exhibitions in Vietnam, such as “AgroViet,” “Green Week,” and the Can Tho international agriculture exhibition. Vietnam has also sent groups to the world’s biggest international agriculture exhibition held every three years in Israel. In July 2009, Israeli President Shimon Peres received the credentials of the first Vietnamese ambassador to Israel, H.E. Mr. Dinh Xuan Luu, in Jerusalem. For the first time since the establishment of diplomatic relations, the ambassador will operate from an embassy established in Israel. The previous ambassador was a non-resident ambassador operating from Cairo. As part of a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Vietnam and Israel encouraging cooperation within the dairy products sector, Israel and Vietnam opened the Dairy Demonstration and Experimental Farm in Vietnam’s capital, Ho Chi Minh City, in 2013. The farm is managed by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Israeli Embassy in Vietnam. Operations at the facility are overseen by Israel’s Mashav Agency for International Development Cooperation. The Dairy Demonstration and Experimental Farm aims to find a way to increase the milk production and efficiency of Vietnamese farmers. Ideally, the program would like to see the individual Vietnamese cows produce 8,000 liters of milk per year instead of 3,500 liters of milk per year as they currently are. Cows in Israel produce up to 13,000 liters of milk per year. Poor living conditions, in addition to poor nutrition, metabolic problems, and high temperatures and humidity, contribute to the sickly nature of Vietnamese dairy cows. The Israeli officials running the Dairy Demonstration and Experimental Farm are teaching the Vietnamese farmers how to get the most milk out of their cows, using techniques such as keeping them constantly cool to avoid heat stress and improving their diet with fresher and more nutritious grasses. The facility contains 174 animals, and farmers come to take courses in best practices for farming and caring for their cows. Staff at the Dairy Demonstration and Experimental Farm also routinely make site visits to the individual farms. The individual farmers are often very poor, so they have been slow to adopt the new practices that need newer, specialized equipment. In November 2015, Vietnamese and Israeli businesses held a conference called “Meet Israel,” in Hanoi, Vietnam, that attracted 130 participants from both countries. Vietnamese Ambassador to Israel Cao Tran Quoc Hai said that Vietnam was interested in Israeli medical equipment and devices, drip irrigation technology, male shrimp breeding techniques, and various other agricultural advances. Two-way trade between Israel and Vietnam increased fivefold from 2009 to 2014, jumping from $200 million to $1.1 billion. In July 2023, Israel signed a free trade agreement with Vietnam during the visit of Vietnamese Trade and Industry Minister Nguyen Hong Dien and Deputy Premier Tran Luu Quang to Jerusalem. The agreement will remove duties on at least 86% of Vietnamese and 93% of Israeli products. In 2022, bilateral trade between Israel and Vietnam rose 18% to $2.2 billion. Israel primarily exports electronics and fertilizers to Vietnam and imports smartphones, footwear, and seafood. Vietnam’s Industry and Trade Ministry said the agreement will “facilitate Vietnam’s exports of its products not only to Israel but also pave the way for Vietnamese products to access other Middle East, North African and southern European markets.” “We’ve had excellent relations over the past few decades, but this is an important turning point,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented. “We are formally signing an agreement that will expand our trade, which is robust, to be even more robust. I look forward to increasing our ties with innovation, with all the areas that can better the lives of both our peoples.” He added, “Vietnam is a vibrant, growing economy. Israel is a vibrant, growing economy. And our cooperation I think creates new horizons that will make us more successful together in the future.” Vietnam is the second East Asian country with which Israel has a free trade agreement (after the Republic of Korea) and the first from the ASEAN bloc. In addition to the trade agreement, Netanyahu and Tran marked the 30th year of diplomatic relations between the two countries and discussed opening direct flights and increasing cooperation in agriculture and tourism. Israel defense contractors have signed many contracts with Vietnam in recent years as Hanoi has sought to build up its military in response to Chinese provocations. For example, Israel Aerospace Industries signed a deal in 2025 to supply Vietnam’s Military Intelligence with two spy satellites for $680 million. Other transactions include a $600 million contract for Rafael’s Spider air defense systems, IAI’s $140 million sale of Heron drones, IMI Systems’ $70 million deal to upgrade tanks, and Elta’s $150 million deal for radar systems. Another Israeli company built a $100 million plant in Vietnam to assemble Tavor rifles. One year after entering into force on November 17, 2024, the Việt Nam–Israel Free Trade Agreement (VIFTA) has strengthened bilateral economic ties despite global instability, with trade surpassing $3 billion in the first ten months of 2025, significant tariff reductions such as eliminating duties on Israeli dates, expanded Vietnamese access to the Israeli market including a 1,000-ton duty-free tuna quota, and deeper cooperation in high-tech sectors like electronics, medical devices, AgriTech, WaterTech and cybersecurity. It also highlights Israeli regulatory changes that recognize EU-standard Vietnamese goods, planned direct flights by early 2026 to boost connectivity, and growing collaboration potential in technology transfer and R&D, while noting that small and medium enterprises still need better guidance to benefit from the agreement fully, and calling for expanded cooperation in innovation, green energy, smart cities, climate and education exchanges to build a long-term comprehensive partnership. Sources: Sharon Udasin, “Israeli, Vietnamese dairy experts partner to improve milk quality and yield in Ho Chi Minh City,” Jerusalem Post, (December 25, 2014). Map: CIA Factbook. |
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