DPM begins African tour

The Deputy PM was accompanied by Nghe An provincial People’s Committee Chairman Thai Thanh Quy, Vice Minister-Chairman of the Office of the Government Nguyen Si Hiep, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Dang Hoang An, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Hoang Hiep.

The African tour to Cameroon, Nigeria, and South Africa of the Deputy PM is of great significance for Viet Nam to boost multifaceted ties with these countries. 

Regarding South Africa, the visit is the first high-ranking one between the two countries after the visit of PM Phan Van Khai 15 years ago. 

The visits of Deputy PM Hue will be the first ones after Viet Nam set up diplomatic ties with Nigeria (in 1972) and Cameroon (1976).

In Africa, Nigeria, Cameroon, and South Africa play important roles in politics and economics. 

Cameroon has traditional ties and is a leading investment and trade partner of Viet Nam in which the two-way trade turnover hit US$ 200 million last year. So far, Cameroon ranked 12th out of 72 countries and territories which Viet Nam invested with a total registered capital of over US$ 1 billion.

South Africa is the most important ‘cooperative development’ partner of Viet Nam in various fields namely politics, diplomacy, security, national defense, and trade. Two-way trade turnover was maintained at about US$ 1 billion over the past five years. 

Via the visit, the Deputy PM hopes to cement and deepen investment and trade cooperation especially in agriculture and telecom; boost coordination at the United Nations, the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC). Viet Nam stands ready to serve as a bridge for African countries to develop trade relations and investment with ASEAN member states./.

By Hoang Ha