Pretoria (VNA) – The Vietnamese Party and State consistently attachmuch importance to the friendship and all-round cooperation with Africancountries, including the Ivory Coast, Politburo member and Secretary of theCommunist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Vo Van Thuong has said.

Meeting with Ivory Coast Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly on June 18 as partof the two-day visit to the African country, Thuong, who is also head of theCPV Central Committee’s Commission for Information and Education, expressed hisdelight over the sound bilateral relations in the past time, with both nationsbacking each other at international forums, including the UN and the FrancophonieOrganisation.

He took the occasion to thank the Ivory Coast for supporting Vietnam when thelater ran for a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council during 2020-2021,and creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese people community in thehost nation.

As Vietnam is currently the second largest trade partner of the Ivory Coast,Thuong suggested both sides bolster cooperation in the field throughaccelerating the signing of cooperation framework agreements, and negotiationand signing of various trade pacts.

Thuong also conveyed Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s invitation to pay anofficial visit to Vietnam to Amadou Gon Coulibaly.

The Ivory Coast PM, for his part, said that his country chose Vietnam as a standardmodel for its socio-economic development strategy, and recommended furthercollaboration in cashew processing, describing Vietnam as the world’s bestcashew processor while the Ivory Coast has largest yield of cashew (around800,000 tonnes per year).

He affirmed the Ivory Coast, as an active member of the African Union (AU),will work to promote the AU-Vietnam ties. He also wished to receive Vietnam’ssupport so that the country can expand collaboration with the ASEAN bloc.

Earlier, in a meeting with President of the Ivory Coast National AssemblyAmadou Soumahoro, Thuong rejoiced at the thriving parliamentary ties betweenthe two countries, recommending both sides to bolster delegation exchanges atall levels.

In that spirit, he conveyed NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan’s visitinvitation to the host, expressing his hope that the legislative bodies of bothnations will promote friendship exchanges and experience sharing, as well asjoin hands to supervise the implementation of signed documents.

Besides, Thuong said the two parliaments should facilitate legal conditions toenhance cooperation in economy, trade and investment, and continue coordinationat multilateral forums.

Speaking highly of the fruitful economic relations between Vietnam and theIvory Coast, Amadou Soumahoro said that they hold great potential to furthercooperation in the coming time.

Besides, bilateral collaboration should be expanded to industry, agriculture,construction, mining, culture and communications, he added.

On June 19, Thuong held talks with President of the Rally of Houphouetists forDemocracy and Peace (RHDP) Party Amada Bictogo, during which they laid stresson the importance of experience sharing and delegation exchange to deepen therelations between the RHDP and the CPV.

At the working session with the Ministry of Information and Communications, thetwo sides shared experience in press and media management, and reachedconsensus on enhancing cooperation through organising visits and workingsessions between the two information and communications ministries.-VNA