Maputo (VNA) -- Vietnamese Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan has stressed that Vietnam always treasures the traditionalfriendly cooperative relationship with Mozambique and see it as one ofVietnam's key cooperation partners in Africa.

Speaking during talks with Mozambican Prime MinisterAdriano Maleiane on September 11 morning (local time) in the capital Maputo, Vice President Xuan expressed her joy at her first official visitto Mozambique and thanked the Mozambican leader for the respectful welcomegiven to the delegation. The Vice President respectfully conveyed PrimeMinister Pham Minh Chinh's greetings to the Prime Minister of Mozambique.

For his part, Prime Minister Adriano Maleiane warmlywelcomed the visit of Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan, considering it animportant new milestone in the relationship between the two countries. Heaffirmed that Mozambique always considers Vietnam one of its top prioritypartners in Asia.

The two leaders informed each other about eachcountry's situation and congratulated the achievements that Mozambique andVietnam have achieved in socio-economic development and recovery,especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Both sides expressed joy at thepositive progress in bilateral relations recently, with the maintenance of delegation exchanges and contacts at all levels, especially high level, andacross all Party, State and National Assembly channels. The two sidessuccessfully organized the 4th Meeting of the Vietnam - MozambiqueIntergovernmental Committee on Economic, Culture and Scientific-TechnologyCooperation in May this year after a nine-year hiatus.

Telecommunications cooperation with Movitel Company – a joint venture betweenVietnam’s Viettel Group and Mozambique’s SPI - and Vietnam's food cropdevelopment cooperation in Mozambique have become bright spots in bilateralrelations. Cooperation in the fields of trade, education-training and health has also made encouraging progress.

However, agreeing that the results of cooperation arenot commensurate with the great potential of the two sides, the two leadersdiscussed and agreed on major directions and measures to deepen bilateralcooperation. Regarding politics and diplomacy, the two sides agreedto actively implement the results of the phone call between Party GeneralSecretary Nguyen Phu Trong and Chairman of the FRELIMO Party, President ofMozambique in June 2022 and the 4th Meeting of the Vietnam-Mozambique IntergovernmentalCommittee in May 2023; promote delegation exchanges and high-level contacts.They also agreed to actively support each other at regional and multilateralforums.

Regarding the economy, the two leaders expressed theirdetermination to further increase bilateral trade turnover to match the marketneeds of 130 million people of the two countries through further facilitationof each other's significant products so that the two countries can expand toeach other's markets. The two leaders agreed to encourage businesses of the twocountries to cooperate, including Movitel to expand investment and business inMozambique. They also agreed to continue considering agriculture, includingaquaculture, as a key area of cooperation to contribute to ensuring the world'ssupply chain and food security.

The Mozambican Prime Minister proposed a number of newareas of cooperation, including asking Vietnam to cooperate and invest ininfrastructure and transportation development in Mozambique with itsexperience. Meanwhile, Vietnamese Vice President Xuan proposed that the twosides strengthen mineral cooperation. The Mozambican side agreed and committedto promoting the early signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on coal tradewith Vietnam.

The host proposed to increase thenumber of scholarships, strengthen cultural exchanges, promote cooperation in fighting transnational crime and protecting wildlife. In response, the guest suggested the two sides well implement the signed agreements inthe above fields, and said the Vietnamese side will actively considerincreasing scholarships for Mozambican students to study in Vietnam.

On this occasion, Xuan conveyed theinvitation of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to the Prime Minister ofMozambique to visit Vietnam at an appropriate time.

Xuan and a high-rankingVietnamese delegation are in an official visit to the Republic of Mozambiquefrom September 10-13 at the invitation of Prime MinisterAdriano Maleiane./.