Pretoria (VNA) – Vietnam and South Africahave agreed to work together to bolster comprehensive cooperation at the fourthVietnam – South Africa inter-governmental partnership forum.

The forum took place in South Africa’s capitalPretoria on March 14 and 15 under the co-chair of Vietnamese Deputy ForeignMinister Nguyen Quoc Cuong and South African Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation ReginahMhaule.

At the forum, Vietnamese and South African ministriesand sectors reviewed bilateral cooperation since their third meeting, which washeld in Hanoi in 2015 and discussed measures to capitalize on the countries’potential in the coming years.

The sides agreed to maintain delegation exchanges atall levels, and mutual support and cooperation at international organizationsand multilateral forums, particularly the United Nations.

They shared the view on the need to strengthen bilateralpartnership in economy, trade, and investment and to soon sign a memorandum ofunderstanding on boosting joint work in mineral resources, electricity powerand renewable energy.

They recommended the launching of negotiations forcoal export from South Africa to Vietnam, and boosting the trading of theirfarm produce and food products.

The South African side promised to assist theorganization of events that introduce Vietnamese goods into local supermarketchains.

The two sides agreed to hold a meeting of the Vietnam– South Africa subcommittee on trade in 2019 and assigned specific agencies tocarry out commercial promotion activities.

They pledged to continue with joint work in theprotection, conservation and management of biodiversity, while exchanginginformation on seized wildlife animals, and implementation of the Convention onInternational Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

The two sides vowed to negotiate towards signing anagreement on cooperation on agriculture, fishery and forestry before the end of2020.

The sides agreed to hold their third defence dialoguein Hanoi this year, boost capacity training collaboration in military health,logistics, and defence industry, and exchange experience related to UNpeacekeeping mission.

Vietnamese and South African ministry of publicsecurity reached consensus on cooperation to prevent crime, particularly drugand wildlife trafficking, while working to sign an agreement on judicialsupport concerning crime.

In terms of education-training and science-technology,the sides highlighted the need for more exchanges of researchers andorganization of scientific seminars toward the signing of more collaborationagreements in the fields.

Vietnam suggested increasing exchanges of cultural,sport and tourism delegations, facilitating art-cultural activities and filmscreening in both nations, and exchanging experiences in tourism and tourismdevelopment policies.

At the forum, Reginah Mhaule expressed the hope toreceive Vietnam’s support in developing ties with the Asia-Pacific region. Shesaid she backs the ASEAN’s stance on tackling international dispute usingpeaceful measures in line with the UN charter and international law.

The official stated that South Africa will soon send adiplomatic note on its official support of Vietnam’s candidacy for anon-permanent seat at the UN Security Council in the 2020-2021 tenure. She alsostressed her country’s willingness to help Vietnam establish relations with theAfrican Union.

Concluding the event, the two deputy ministers saidbilateral trade, current at 1 billion USD, still fall short of potential,agreeing to boosting business connectivity and people-to-people exchanges.

The next meeting was planned to take place in Vietnamin 2021.-VNA