Dakar (VNA)꧙ – Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly (NA) Tran Thanh Man held talks with President of the Senegalese NA Malick Ndiaye in Dakar, capital of Senegal, on July 23, wishing that his visit would mark a new chapter in parliamentary collaboration and spur broader ties between the two nations.

The talks, held shortly after an official welcome ceremony, underscored a shared commitment to strengthening a relationship rooted in decades of friendship. The host welcomed Chairman Man on his official visit, the first by a key Vietnamese Party and State leader to Senegal since their diplomatic ties began in 1969. He described the visit as a qualitative shift in bilateral ties, a gathering of “brothers”, and a demonstration of Vietnam’s strong commitment and sense of responsibility to advancing its friendly and cooperative ties with Senegal. Affirming his determination to work closely with the Vietnamese NA Chairman, Ndiaye vowed to deepen fruitful relations between the two legislatures and countries across various fields, toward promoting South – South cooperation, a central focus of Senegal’s current foreign policy. About the recent human and material losses caused by Typhoon Wipha in Vietnam, he conveyed heartfelt sympathies and solidarity to the Vietnamese leaders and people. Agriculture emerged as a focus of the talks. Ndiaye noted that Senegal now imports about 10% of its rice from Vietnam and has annual import demand of 100,000 tonnes. In return, Senegal exports cashew nuts, aquatic products, fishmeal, and animal feed to Vietnam. He said his country is a gateway to African markets and a logistics hub for West Africa, urging Vietnamese companies to invest in Senegal’s agricultural processing, technology, and digital transformation. Chairman Man, during his first official visit to Senegal, reflected on the deep historical ties between the two nations. He recalled that Senegal was a stop on President Ho Chi Minh’s journey to seek national salvation in 1912, and hosted Vietnamese lawyer Nguyen Huu Tho in 1973, symbolising solidarity with the Vietnamese people. Despite the geographic distance, the two countries have always shown special attention and affection for one another, with a shared desire to intensify friendship and cooperation, especially between their legislative bodies, he said. Vietnam values Africa’s potential and attaches great importance to investment and the expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation with the region, including Senegal, NA Chairman Man said. The top legislator noted that both Vietnam and Senegal are dynamic, open economies, hence myriad opportunities for them to act as gateways for each other’s goods to access the broader markets of Southeast Asia and West Africa.

Describing Senegal as an important supplier of input materials for many of Vietnam’s manufacturing and processing sectors, he acknowledged recent positive progress in bilateral economic ties but stressed that significant untapped potential remains. He called for further improvements to the legal framework governing trade, industry, and investment; enhanced trade promotion activities; and greater business-to-business connectivity to increase exports of key goods to each other's markets. Chairman Man proposed that the two parliaments establish a regular mechanism for delegation exchanges to maintain ongoing dialogue. He also encouraged greater oversight and follow-up on the implementation of bilateral agreements signed by the two governments, and urged both sides to accelerate talks toward signing essential cooperation agreements. The Vietnamese legislative leader expressed support for launching new initiatives, such as appointing honorary consuls in each country and strengthening information exchange to help businesses verify partners, resolve trade disputes, and build a transparent, sustainable business environment. He thanked Senegal for joining the Group of Friends on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), an initiative led by Vietnam. He also asked Senegal, as a responsible member of the international community, to support ASEAN’s and Vietnam’s stance on peacefully resolving disputes in the East Sea based on international law, particularly the UN Charter and the 1982 UNCLOS. Chairman Man affirmed Vietnam’s readiness to support Senegal in ensuring food security by sharing expertise, promoting research collaboration, and transferring agricultural technologies, especially in rice cultivation and agro-product processing. He also urged Senegal to continue facilitating the import of other Vietnamese products such as garment-textiles, footwear, agricultural machinery, and construction materials. He invited Senegal to introduce promising projects and cooperation areas where Vietnam holds competitive advantages, such as construction, science and technology, and telecommunications, while calling for favourable conditions to be created for Vietnamese enterprises to explore and expand investment opportunities in Senegal. The leader affirmed Vietnam’s willingness to serve as a gateway for Senegalese businesses to access the ASEAN market. He also thanked the Senegalese government for its support of the Vietnamese community living and working in the country, and called for continued attention to their well-being. The two leaders highly valued the sound cooperation between the two legislatures at both bilateral and multilateral levels, emphasising that parliamentary collaboration is an important pillar of the bilateral relations, contributing to enhancing mutual understanding and reinforcing the legal foundation for comprehensive cooperation. They expressed their delight at the launch of the Vietnam–Senegal Parliamentary Friendship Group, co-chaired by the Vice President of the Senegalese NA and the Deputy Secretary of Vietnam's NA Party Committee. They regarded this as a significant step forward in fostering cooperation and people-to-people exchange between the two countries in general, and their parliaments in particular. To further enhance effective and substantive parliamentary collaboration, the two sides agreed to step up the exchange of delegations at all levels, promote the role of the parliamentary friendship group, and increase coordination at multilateral parliamentary forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie (APF). They also agreed to continue sharing experience in law-making and supervision, strengthen cooperation in training and information exchange, and consolidate political trust through increasing delegation exchanges and meetings of ministries, sectors, and businesses of both countries. The two nations also pledged mutual support at international multilateral forums. On this occasion, NA Chairman Man extended the greetings from Party General Secretary To Lam, State President Luong Cuong, and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to the leaders and people of Senegal. He invited President of the Senegalese National Assembly Malick Ndiaye to pay an official visit to Vietnam at the earliest time. The Senegalese NA leader accepted the invitation with pleasure. Following their talks, the two parliamentary leaders witnessed the announcement ceremony of the Vietnam–Senegal Parliamentary Friendship Group and the signing of a cooperation agreement between the two legislatures. Earlier, on the afternoon of July 22, NA Chairman Man, his spouse Nguyen Thi Thanh Nga, and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation had a meeting with representatives of the Vietnamese community and people of Vietnamese origin in Senegal. As part of the visit, the NA Chairman's spouse visited the ESTEL Children Centre, which provides care and education for children with cognitive and physical disabilities. Deputy NA Chairman Nguyen Duc Hai also held working sessions with the Court of Auditors of Senegal, while Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long chaired a policy dialogue on legal frameworks for promoting Vietnam–Senegal cooperation in agriculture, trade and investment, and held discussions on water resource protection with the Senegalese Minister of Hydraulics and Sanitation.

On July 23, leaders from the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho and the ministries of Industry and Trade, Science and Technology, Agriculture and Environment, and Construction also held bilateral meetings with Senegalese partners./.