Vietnam’s ambassador to Malta has dismissed concerns that the island is an entry point for people smuggling in Europe.

Duong Hai Hung said Malta was “not a particular country Vietnam is focused on,” in its fight against people trafficking. 

In October, the UK’s ITV news labelled Malta the “fastest-growing entry point to Europe for Vietnamese people smuggling gangs” after an investigation into the practice.

It found that tens of thousands of people from Vietnam were paying 'agents' with borrowed money to be smuggled to Europe, with the intention of getting illegal, undocumented work at a higher rate of pay and sending money home.

The human trafficking gangs would exploit the legal chance to study in Malta, according to the report, which found that out of 265 Vietnamese students to have been given visas to study at MCAST since 2021, only two returned home.

In July, a group of Vietnamese students studying English in Malta were caught by police trying to flee to mainland Europe using fake passports.  

But in an interview with Times of Malta, Hai Hung said it was not an issue for the Vietnamese government. 

“We are fighting that [people trafficking] but, as far as I understand, Malta is not a country we are focusing on,” he said. 

Explaining the Vietnamese government was working on curbing a variety of transnational crime, including illegal migration, the ambassador stressed it was important to fight such illegalities while “promoting travel and business” between Vietnam and Malta.

He insisted agencies allegedly selling fake documents used by those travelling to Europe were being dealt with "right away” in accordance with the law. 

“There's no compromise on this one,” he said.

Hai Hung was in Malta this week as part of celebrations to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Malta.

He met with President George Vella and business leaders in the hope of furthering economic cooperation, including education and tourism.

Hai Hung described the 50 years as a “long friendship between Vietnam and Malta that has stood the test of time.”

But his visit also comes at a time when EU farmers are protesting imports from non-European countries – including Vietnam – that they say are not up to scratch.

Farmers argue that products from countries such as Mexico, Egypt and Vietnam do not follow the same strict EU standards and say this puts them at a competitive disadvantage. 

But, according to Hai Hung, his country must abide by European standards to be allowed to import its products into the EU. 

“Vietnam has to follow the standards and qualifications [required] by the EU – an important market,” he said. 

“If a Vietnamese farmer has a product and wants to export it to the European Union, he has to follow those standards... in order to be in that market”, said Hai Hung. “We are not competing based on low-quality agricultural products.”

Last year, the EU issued 68 warnings about Vietnamese food imports, including those containing higher than allowed quantities of permitted pesticides, residues of banned pesticides and unauthorised genetically modified crops, among others.

Freedom of the press

The ambassador also addressed concerns about media freedom in the communist state.

Last year, Human Rights Watch said that Vietnamese dissidents and activists face “systematic harassment, intimidation, arbitrary arrest, abuses in custody, and imprisonment”, and that the country maintained strict control over media outlets.

But according to the ambassador, both Vietnam’s constitution and legal system grant the right to freedom of expression. 

“We have a lot of newspapers, and they can write whatever they want... we have Facebook, and everyone can say what they want to, so it’s free,” he said. 

“But remember, if you are doing something against the law or commit a crime, you will be punished [but] not because of the freedom of expression... if you are in accordance with the law, you are safe.”