Pretoria (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue and ahigh-ranking Government delegation of Vietnam paid a working visit to SouthAfrica from November 3-5, as part of their trip to Africa.

Duringthe visit, Deputy PM Hue held talks with Deputy President of South Africa DavidMabuza and a working sessionwith Secretary General of the African National Congress (ANC) EliasSekgobelo Ace Magashule. Healso attended a Vietnam-South Africa business and investment talk, visited theVietnamese Embassy and met with representatives from the Vietnamese communityin South Africa.

During meetings with South African officials, the Vietnamese Deputy PMinformed the host on Vietnam’s socio-economic situation and affirmed thecountry’s interest in promoting cooperation with South Africa, the only Africancountry that has a partnership for cooperation and development with Vietnam.

Deputy PM Hue proposed that the two countries quickly wrap upnegotiations on legal documents for their early signing, creating a legalframework for their collaboration, especially in mining, agriculture andaviation. He also urged enhancing the role and efficiency of existing bilateralcooperative mechanisms such as the intergovernmental partnership forum, thejoint trade committee and the defence dialogue.

He said Vietnam wants to expand ties with the Southern AfricanDevelopment Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU), as well as with theirmember countries. At the same time, Vietnam is willing to work as a bridge forSouth Africa to promote cooperation with ASEAN.

The Vietnamese Deputy PM asked the South African government to helpaddress problems regarding payment method and consider allowing Vietnamesebanks to open branches in the country, thus facilitating investment andbusiness activities of Vietnamese firms in South Africa.   

The South African Deputy President agreed to create favourable conditionsfor Vietnamese investors to do business in his country, and suggested promotingbilateral cooperation in defence-security, environmental protection andwildlife conservation.         

Meanwhile, the ANC Secretary General informed Hue that he will visit Vietnamin December to promote solidarity with the Vietnamese Party, exchangeexperience in party building work and encourage international integration.

The Vietnam-South Africa business and investmenttalk, jointly held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam and the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry,attracted around 120 local companies.

Addressing the event, Deputy PM Hue highlightedthat trade between Vietnam and South Africa, at 1 billion USD, is still verymodest compared to Vietnam’s foreign trade, which is estimated at 530 billionUSD in 2019.   

Therefore, the two sides need to take measuresto bolster bilateral trade, with their businesses playing the leading role, hesaid, adding that the two Governments should also help remove difficulties andquickly complete the legal framework for economic cooperation./.